Actually, in a free market overproducers try like hell to increase demand. They do that through better advertising, which these days means directed advertising. Mass media (starting with newspapers) has really changed the way the world works because it gives producers a way to affect the very fabric of society. Advertisements, TV commercials, billboards - we just accept these as part of the landscape. We accept the constant intrusion of private enterprise to influence our thought, which is strange indeed.
Mark Twain wrote a remarkable little book called "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", which to me is the quintessentially American book on capitalism as it is fetishized by Ayn Rand etc. The man travels back in time, and proceeds to use his technical knowledge to enrich himself, and civilize the medieval society. One of the steps he takes is to introduce advertising to the knights shields. This is presented un-ironically.
Of course Twain grew up in a very different time where the ratio of city to country was far different, and cities themselves were much humbler affairs. It was easy (and indeed the default) to be "in nature". So the product of "American ingenuity" no matter how crass represented lovely "civilization", and one could turn away from it if one didn't like it, and venture back into the forest. But now, with our mega-cities there are few forests left, and they are far away, and if we turn away from one advertisement we are just confronted with another and another and then another.
Actually, in a free market overproducers try like hell to increase demand.
They can try, yes; but if they don't succeed, they go out of business. In systems that are referred to by the term "capitalism", OTOH, they can often get the government to force increases in demand--for example, railroad owners in the late 1800's who had failed in open competition went to the government to get laws passed that gave them exclusive rights to certain routes.
Also, a free market means that if people choose to buy something, then that something gets made, whether or not it's something that you think "ought" to be made.
with our mega-cities there are few forests left
Do you have any actual numbers to back up this claim? AFAIK there is still a lot of land occupied by forests and other "natural" environments. I live near a major city but there is plenty of forest an hour's drive away. Maybe you need to get out more?
if we turn away from one advertisement we are just confronted with another and another and then another
I think that depends on how you choose to spend your time. Yes, if you spend a lot of time watching TV you can't avoid seeing a lot of ads. I solve that problem by not watching much TV. Similar remarks apply to other kinds of advertising.
Btw, I'm not trying to say I'm in favor of advertising; I'm not. I think most of it is a great waste of effort. But ads aren't aimed at someone like me anyway; they're aimed at people who are actually influenced by them. So if you really want to get rid of ads, you need to find a way to convince people that they shouldn't be influenced by them. Which, btw, is what a true free market requires anyway: it means the responsibility for making sure that your buying decisions reflect your actual values lies with you.
Mark Twain wrote a remarkable little book called "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", which to me is the quintessentially American book on capitalism as it is fetishized by Ayn Rand etc. The man travels back in time, and proceeds to use his technical knowledge to enrich himself, and civilize the medieval society. One of the steps he takes is to introduce advertising to the knights shields. This is presented un-ironically.
Of course Twain grew up in a very different time where the ratio of city to country was far different, and cities themselves were much humbler affairs. It was easy (and indeed the default) to be "in nature". So the product of "American ingenuity" no matter how crass represented lovely "civilization", and one could turn away from it if one didn't like it, and venture back into the forest. But now, with our mega-cities there are few forests left, and they are far away, and if we turn away from one advertisement we are just confronted with another and another and then another.