Advertising is a method of persuasion.
It's as old as civilization.
We advertise for various reasons, selling products is just one of them.
And yes, over time, we have developed new advertising techniques.
A body of techniques is what's referred to as a "technology".
So you'd sacrifice individuality? That's a good scifi one.
If The internet gets good enough with chips in our head and everything. I guess that's what we'd basically have. Access to each other's memories and senses. Just ghosts and an internet of flesh