Free Market, Competition, Advertising

Smith projects that the greatest weakness of a Free Market is its susceptibility to Monopoly.  Specifically, in his estimation, this Monopoly is of Supply.  Accordingly, his solution is to promote variety in Supply, the means of which is Competition.  In other words, the currently popular concept of the value of Competition, as consisting in a means to the production of a superior product, is not Smith's.  Furthermore, as is plainly evident, the decisive factor in actual Free Markets is usually advertising, the correspondence to which of product quality is contingent, at best.  Instead, advertising has become the medium of monopolistic forces, so, Smith's greatest concern has been actualized.