Advertisers always say they are educating and informing, so that their "audience" is "learning" about their product.

And there's a bit of truth to that, for new products - people don't know about it yet. But it quickly goes from awareness to persuasion, then lies, and finally mindless repetition of a logo and tagline.

The endgame of ads is not information flow, it is programming the emotions and memory of the "audience."

How about if I'm interested in going out and getting something I look it up on my own time? Just don't tell me about it.

Cold email is a form of advertising, but if your question is do I consider any form of advertising acceptable: sure I do. I don't mind display ads or video ads where there is a quid pro quo etc. But cold outreach (email, calls, door to door etc) is unethical