Id like to believe people have enough agency to do a google search to at least figure out their options, but granted, I might be wrong about that.

Edit: I do agree you should have a google-findable website which lists the objective characteristics of your product. If you call that advertising (I call it a "release", and I reserve the word "ad" for anything that has emotional appeal and caters to the indifferent/uninformed), then I agree.

Hoping people stumble on to page 3 of Google to find your thing isn't sustainable so you need some kind of advertising.

You need someway to get whatever your selling into a place where people buy things