At least in the contemporary incarnations, I think it is god awful--an almost malevolent phenomena. It encourages and praises the stupidest, almost worst sort of suggestive thinking and because it is so true to the spirit of democracy everyone praises it to high heaven, when it really dumbs down everything, perhaps an inherent flaw of democracy.
Just think about the "grassroots campaign" that the Partnership for Drug Free America or whatever has: they have an ad showing an egg frying on a saucepan with the words "this is your brain on drugs," which is a clever analogy and maybe a good cause, but still, it doesn't mean anything. It just plays to your prejudices with no real substance, and keeps everything simple and stupid--and I don't mean that in a good way. That's really how almost all ads are, subliminally malevolent. And to try to elevate this form of playing to the stupid crowd, promoting, encouraging, and even creating benefits for their dumbness, as the epitome of governments and political movements is really infuriating.
Just think about the "grassroots campaign" that the Partnership for Drug Free America or whatever has: they have an ad showing an egg frying on a saucepan with the words "this is your brain on drugs," which is a clever analogy and maybe a good cause, but still, it doesn't mean anything. It just plays to your prejudices with no real substance, and keeps everything simple and stupid--and I don't mean that in a good way. That's really how almost all ads are, subliminally malevolent. And to try to elevate this form of playing to the stupid crowd, promoting, encouraging, and even creating benefits for their dumbness, as the epitome of governments and political movements is really infuriating.