Germ Warfare In the Kitchen

I was recently in a discussion with a friend regarding the "evils" of advertising. As surfing the internet routinely shows us, it can certainly be annoying. The dancing girl ads that have nothing to do with the product the company is selling. The annoying flashing colors. The talking smileys. The popups and of course, the junk mail. On TV, the volume goes up to make sure you are awake from that boring movie to hear about some yuppies credit score. In magazines, it is getting harder and harder to tell the difference between an ad and a legitimate story. It is surely difficult to defend that the industry hasn't gotten out of hand.
 
I remember a commercial not so long ago that advertised an anti-bacterial dish detergent. I do not recall the brand, but it assured us that their detergent killed more germs than the next leading brand without the anti-bacterial agent. In order to demonstrate this, an ultraviolet light (or some such technology) was pointed at dishes in a sink after each product was separately applied. The advertised brand showed much less glowing green spots (or some such color to shock you) than the competitor's brand. The glaring problem with this commercial was that the dishes [i]were still soapy[/i]! This advertisement preyed on the fact that most people do not realize that detergent, or soap for that matter, do not kill germs. Detergents are designed to loosen the oil and dirt that germs attach to, allowing water to rinse them away. Anti-bacterial agents are quite unnecessary, as you would notice if they put the UV type light on the dishes [i]after[/i] they were rinsed. I guarantee they would both be just as germ free.
 
This is just one of many examples of the "evils" of advertising. However, I do feel that advertising is not inherently evil. I picture a man in 1880 sitting in an outhouse on a cold, winter afternoon with the daily paper and reading an ad on the revolutionary and affordable method of relieving one's self inside their own home! Brilliant! How many more winters would his rear have to endure if he was not been notified of this great new advancement?
 
I believe it is inevitable that advertisements will continue to invade our daily activities at an alarming rate. There is sure to be a day when it is common place for someone to have a computer chip in their brain designed to feed sensory entertainment, digitally zoom in on what the eyes can see, provide illicit drug like sensations and surely, make your mouth water for a Big Mac. This is our future unless we find an acceptable way to curb the abuse and flood of advertising. I am normally not a fan of government regulations in general, but what else can we do to stop the commercial insanity? I think I will retire to the loo and contemplate this more.