> "However, when I am searching for a pressure cooker, it would be great to go to a centralized repository of ads and look through who markets this sort of thing the best and may be have some objective reviews along with it..."
Isn't this similar to what Amazon Marketplace does? Of course, they do allow advertisers to promote their stuff, but apart from a top few sponsored content, rest all are ranked by reviews (or so they say).
Funnily enough this kind of advertising has an adverse effect on me: Showcasing your product as sponsored content at the top of the search results at Amazon, as well as Google or the App Store, suggests that this is a subpar product that needs to pay to be relevant. I’m not sure how common this attitude is, but by now I subconsciously ignore these ads.
Of course there are also brands and products I know and like, which appear in these ads, but I see them as an exception, as a shining pearl in a sea of mediocrity, and continue to regard sponsored content as a strong indicator for lacking quality.
Isn't this similar to what Amazon Marketplace does? Of course, they do allow advertisers to promote their stuff, but apart from a top few sponsored content, rest all are ranked by reviews (or so they say).