Companies spend hundreds of millions on them because they don't work.

I don't buy stuff

Companies spend hundreds of millions on lots of shit that doesn’t work. There have been plenty of studies saying that ads are not nearly as effective as companies think they are. Do you think that companies are somehow smarter than the people outside those companies?

1000006423

On the train and bus to work mostly.
- Ah, I see. I like what banksy had to say about those kinds of ads
No we see what people use in videos that their "friends" sent them for free to keep.

Not so fast. The idea that "if companies spend that much, they must have a reason" isn't any good either.

Some ads obviously work, some ads obviously don't work, and most of them aren't in either of those categories.

I don't have enough money to buy stuff because it's advertised.

I definitely bought a lot of things because of ads. Not directly though, I don't go around clicking on online ads even if one slips through the blocker.

Just being exposed to the idea that some product exists is an ad. Reviews and comparisons. Seeing a brand name in the wild. A product being recommended by someone I consider an authority in that specific field.
It all provenly works on me.

And I don't really regret it, how else would I even find out what exists? Go to the store and just buy whatever the seller recommends? Did people do that in the past before mass advertising?

Edit: I just realized this is exactly what Amazon is trying to do. Push generic "amazon option" products which have no independent sales outside of the platform.

Being exposed to a product that exists is not an ad. An ad is explicitly something that a company has paid to make visible to people. If a company isn’t paying for it then it’s not an ad, no matter how much it sounds like one.

And yes, going to a store and trying shit out is exactly how it should go. Reading reviews and talking to others is exactly how it should go. Companies paying to manipulate people of the world using psychology is what ads are. Not seeing a product being used in the wild.

a paid notice that is published or broadcast (as to attract customers or to provide information of public interest)

I've bought one, and exactly one thing from an ad that I have liked, ever. A Purple pillow. Its been years now, and I still use it.

Everything else is regret.