Advertising: For Better or For Worse?

According to the 'experts' we see advertising everyday, on billboards, at school, even at home. Billboards range from a local pizzeria just off of exit 14 on highway 400 to an adult store on interstate 40 in Tennessee. At school posters display information about this semester's musical or the next math club meeting. Even at home, phone books place lawyer adds on the binds. While all of these groups and products advertised have some sort of benefit to us, are they really helping us in the long run or bettering us in the short run?
Being a high school student in an advance placement class I come in contact with every controversy there ever was. This week, my teacher is focusing on advertising and whether it is really putting bad thoughts in our heads. The popular consenses is that advertising DOES put bad ideas in our head. Example: the Marlboro man is listed as one of the most 101 influential men of our nation. And he isn't even a politician trying to better our domestic or foreign policies. He's just a man on a billboard or in a magazine telling us to buy cigarrettes to get that roughed-up cowboy look.
But what if the nation as a whole took it upon themselves to turn advertising around? Say for instance we do more advertising for non-for-profit organizations like the Red Cross or St. Jude's Hospital. There is advertising for these groups, but it is limited. What if we took the initiative to put posters for such groups in every school, every gym, every fast-food drive-thru window? Imagine the difference we could make. More people would be reached, more initiative would be taken, and thus more help would be out there to help those in need (not only here but across the nation).
But we can't just imagine. We have to do. It's up to us to make the difference this time.