The problem is that it's a zero-sum game for a large part. People are hopefully not going to buy more medecine because of pharmacy ads. So the excessive spend on ads is driving up costs for everybody, and causing insane profits for a handful of companies.

I have no solution to offer though. Just thinking out loud... what effects would a limit on advertisement budgets relative to total expenditures have? That would force companies to spend their money mostly on actually creating value for the customer, instead of just selling the hell out of a mediocre offering.. ?