Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's also not absurd to imagine a world where advertising is the next internet bubble.
It's not. You can never say if something is a bubble until after it pops. On the other hand, I think there's a convincing argument that people are having more and more of their needs and basic wants met. And if you're in the business of selling things - you need to synthesize wants in your customers. Only 200 years ago, basically everyone on the planet was a peasant. Only 70 years ago, even middle class people in the…
Agreed. Rather than "grow" I'd prefer to look at organizational success through time in terms of evolution.
That being said, there are tons of companies out there that are huge and do no advertising. Word of mouth, relevance to reality, and quality of product win out over the long term.