If apple would give more legitimate options of marketing apps in the AppStore devs would not stoop so low. There is no tracking, no in-store ads, nothing you can do besides playing the popularity game.
And that's exactly what I hate about the AppStore: it's one big popularity contest. I've had one of my apps dip into the US Top 100 this weekend thanks to a random mention in the NY Times. While the attention is nice, I experience the lack of control over these kinds of media events as truly depressing.
While that's nice if you have the cash to spend, for most indie devs that is just not an option. If you have suggestions on how to do this on the cheap, check out this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1485783