In an age when information is ubiquitous, with advertisers trying to monetize every bit of it, filtering becomes an important skill. Today advertisers run ads alongside content, tomorrow advertisers and brands will dictate what content gets written. It's already happening with native ads as this post shows, but will soon become standard. The Truth will become increasingly elusive to the unskilled: a new kind of digital divide.
This has been true for a while though. Consumer behavior is clearly manipulated by advertising, and it's common that an inferior and more expensive product wins as the result of superior marketing.
I don't think it's something we're permanently tethered to though. As reviews are getting better, consumers are realizing more and more that knowing which product is best for them is a very valuable tool. We're seeing stuff like yelp, tripadvisor, healthgrades really take off. The idea of being an "informed" consumer is gaining a lot of traction and that's going to dilute the effectiveness of targeted advertisement.
Advertising has a large spectrum and what you're describing is product placement which has been around as long as advertising has existed. Whether it's placement in a movie, a well crafted article, or a celebrity endorsement. Even academic studies are funded by private parties that have an incentive to sell you something.
