the act or practice of calling public attention to one's product, service, need, is advertising.
Psychologically, there is an effect called Priming. In this effect, which makes sense, priming a subject with a term will make the subject recall that specific term in an anecdotal related task at a later time. So, if a person mentions Olive Garden, and at any point in the next day someone asks you about "italian food", "fast food", "breadsticks" your brain will think of OG albeit shortly.
Do you really think people are going to leave their house every time they see a ad for McBurgerChef? No. But, that particular establishment is the first to pop up in the mind if a person is hungry and/or wants fast food. Fast food places depend on this effect to drive profits. It's like a car commercial- so that the next time you think of cars, you think of THAT car.
According to that effect, since you and I are talking about Olive Garden, it increases the likelihood of thinking about OG at a later time. You or I may not go there, but if this effect is seen by hundreds or thousands, it' enough to push it over the edge and people go eat there. Therefore, any mention of a company specifically is an advertisement for a company. Sometimes it's not unwarranted. I definitely advertise a variety of products inside very specific subreddits. But those subreddits are designed for a purpose suited towards specific products.
