Absolutely.
Of course you are referring to the style of modern advertisements rather than advertising in any way at all. “Advert”, coming from the Latin “turn towards”, the practice simply involves attracting attention, or even attention simply being attracted. There is nothing wrong with something being more attractive than another thing - that’s the basis of survival. But given the question of how attention is attracted, and for what purpose? Now we’re entering the realm of morality.
Non-physical violence is precisely what modern advertising qualifies as. I cannot stand them, and despite trying to avoid them at every step, I cannot be free of them. I still cannot “choose to ignore them” which absolutely should be an option. I find anything to do with it utterly disgusting.
What’s wrong with simply making information available, quietly? Containing nothing other than neutral fact? To dream…
Is there an item that cannot be advertised? Is there an item that cannot be presented as having value? I would say no - especially within the realms of modern advertising that could do an impressive job even of selling suicide if advertisers were so inclined. One would only hope that they would all suffer from the consequences of such adverts before they were ever released though.
Is there anything that cannot be advertised? As distinct from an “item” that implies conceivable physical existence, I would say it is impossible to advertise something that cannot be conceived. Though the processes used today might end up selling something else that can be conceived. Think of religion - it’s advertised in all sorts of different ways, using techniques familiar to the modern day advertiser. The concepts that it attempts to present are supposed to be beyond human conception, at least in some (divine) ways. But instead, something else becomes sold through this message. Could anyone sell Taoism to advertisers? Such a success would probably rob them of their essential qualities that make them an advertiser.
Nothing feels real with advertising. It all feels like a trick, even if the product is a good one. Just makes me not want to buy it.