In recent years the advertising methods became exploitive and unethical, large corporations started using predatory tactics and deceiving ways to ensure that the consumer spends as much as possible. By putting profit maximization as top priority these companies prey on the weak and the vulnerable in their commercials.
The questionable tactics starts with the process of choosing the target of the advertisement, a large portion of advertisers collect private data illegally without the knowledge or the consent of the victim, by doing that these firms carefully choose who to aim the commercial at. For example Facebook tracks the search history for the app users in order to expose them to personalized ADs; these personalized ads increase the likelihood of the user making a purchase.
Another example of unethical advertisement is the use of vague statements and sometimes flat out lies to deceive the customers, these lies can be about the price of the product, or its quality, for instance some companies raise the price of a certain product in order to put a discount label on it while not changing the actual price, by doing this the buyer is tricked into believing that he is getting a great deal.
In conclusion, I firmly and completely agree that part of the methods used in promoting certain goods and services are immoral and ethically wrong. Raising the public awareness and new regulation is needed to combat these practices.