Perhaps if you're particularly susceptible to brainwashing, then advertising could be a bad thing. But I think you have to give people a bit more credit than that. It's about giving potential consumers information so they can make informed choices.

Word of mouth is still the best form of advertising though - agreed. That's not to say other forms of advertising aren't effective, or useful for the consumer.

For example, I know what movies are out mainly through billboards. It's useful to me. If one looks interesting, I might look it up on the net and see if I want to go see it. I'm not being 'soft brainwashed', I'm being informed of a new movie I might want to go see.