You are mostly right, but also ads pay for a lot of things: for example, for most of the Internet. Of course you might prefer to be able to pay for the same services in other ways. But, there are people who can’t afford to pay. They are probably not the intended target audience of the ads, but they get free things nevertheless. So, to some extent, ads extract value from negative sum contests between corporations and give it to the public, which might be regarded as beneficial.
You are mostly right, but also ads pay for a lot of things: for example, for most of the Internet. Of course you might prefer to be able to pay for the same services in other ways. But, there are people who can’t afford to pay. They are probably not the intended target audience of the ads, but they get free things nevertheless. So, to some extent, ads extract value from negative sum contests between corporations and give it to the public, which might be regarded as beneficial.