Ad-less world?

Imagine a world free of ads, no branding and no marketing, no colorful hoardings on roads, only text heavy magazines and newspapers. You buy a lotion but it has no brand name written over it, you buy a $2000 Louis Vuitton handbag or a $20 regular handbag, who is going to know the difference? Imagine how would you tell someone which handbag you exactly want? The letters "LV" written all over its bags is branding/advertising. Every single thing is advertising. When you meet a stranger, you advertise yourself. When you choose Coke over Pepsi, its because of advertising. When you wait outside the Apple store entire night just to get its newly launched iPhone on the very first day, its because of advertising. Advertising is an inseparable part of society and our lives.

Leaving aside the bad ads (cigarette and alcohol ads), I do not understand or see any reason why people have to criticize the regular ads. The world would be like a blank white paper and what would you do with such a blank white paper? How chaotic would life be? How boring would it be to have no brands competing with each other? How would you know if you made a right purchase if there was no branding or advertising? How would you know which one is coke and which one is pepsi without tasting it? Advertising is extremely integral to understanding and targeting people with goods and services of their taste and choice. I feel ads reflect the mindset of the people in the society and its latest trends. Ads would prove to be the best proof that coming generations would have to understand the past times.  

S. H Britt said 'Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does'. While I do agree that advertisers these days go over the board and their ads are present all over the place. But, with increased competition, are they left with any choice but not hammer you with their ads again and again. There are surely benefits of watching a movie or a television show without interruption from ads but what would this world be like if not interrupted by constant ad-attacks? Think about it!