I like Pinterest quite a bit. You can pick and choose which boards you follow, so it's easy to weed out the "consumerist" boards. I have boards for recipes, DIY or crafty ideas, outfit and home decor inspirations (which I use to make new outfits and decor from things I already own), fitness routines and ideas, interesting reading. So far I haven't bought a single thing as a result of seeing it (or something similar) on Pinterest. I've actually gotten some pretty good money-saving ideas on there, like repurposing items that I had lying around, making my own household cleaners using stuff I already had, and so on.
I seen my boards kind of like a free magazine, full of images I picked myself and devoid of all the silly "Things You Must Buy for Spring!!!" lists.
But you absolutely could use it in an ultra-consumerist way, and many many people do. It's a tool, it's up to you what you want to do with it. Most people are consumerist, so that's how they use it. Doesn't have to be the case though.
The tracking and advertising thing, I see as a fairly separate issue. Also pretty much on par with what's happening on the rest of the internet. Probably annoying and it could be used in unsettling ways, but so could my Google searches and I'll probably never give those up.