this is a good philosophical question.

the amount of psychological manipulation over the years is indeed astounding, and i'd say most people aren't truly aware of this manipulation, especially the more subtle methods. to that end, it's essentially impossible to ever get consent for a completely voluntary transaction. there will always be an element of manipulation, be it an exploitation of addiction or otherwise. both parties involved can truly have no idea of manipulation even being a part of their decision making process; that's how deep these machinations have gone.

i think the question becomes one of subjectivity towards what the definition of "value" is. someone with purely self-interested motives would view anything gained in their favor as having value, regardless of the repercussions for everyone else involved with that transaction. on a macro level, that's a destructive mentality, but for that one individual, it's a construction mentality.

this rambling of mine might not have added any value to this overall discussion. but essentially, the best we can do is voice our opinions, and condemn "destructive" actions and patterns of others, with (most importantly) a reasoned explanation for the thought process on how we got there.