Advancements?

Apparently being sick and stuck on a couch all day creates a bundle of revelations about popular culture. Watching TV I have seen about a dozen "advancements" in different things. For example, detergent that "pops" throughout the day, air fresheners that sense a bad smell, or a toothpaste that does everything under the sun! My debate for these products are, why do we need them? If a scientist can put so much effort into making detergent beads that pop throughout the day to make us smell nice, than why can't these scientists devote their time to other endeavors, such as medical discoveries. I am aware that these sciences are very different. However, as children did these scientists dream of becoming the inventor of a brand new detergent? If all of these creators have the power to make these advancements in useless things, I wonder what they could all create if they worked on more detrimental things like cancer, or diabetes.
I would use no name no pop detergent if that meant that there would be more people working on these worldwide problems.