This looks interesting. I read the site, might sign up in a bit. Jim's basic outlook is IMHO spot on. I'm less convinced that he's made his case that marketing/advertising techniques that bombard people are equivalent to forcing them to do anything. I actually think that they can be, but the argument needs work.
Jim, if you're lurking, and you haven't already discovered this book, read "Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion", by Robert Cialdini. He's an expert on marketing psychology, but his studies have led him far afield from sales and marketing. Among other things, the techniques that he describes are used by religious cults to recruit members and keep them. Somehow I suspect that the same arguments can be made about actual advertising when it's pervasive enough.
I'll delurk sooner or later over on the web site.