I personally think this line of thought is due to people just not accepting how profitable advertising is to the end business. We're taking a clear and massive increase in profits that dwarf advertising costs. People don't advertise on meta/Google because they are duped by bots or some conspiracy between ads marketplace and marketing teams to hide the fraud. They advertise because their bottom line goes up and it's clear and direct. I once worked for a company where the only reason we'd ever drop some amount of advertising was due to supply constraints. We sold too much at certain points! It really does work.
Maybe not. But your brain noticed those brand names and when you need a product in that category they are more likely to come to mind.
It’s actually shocking if you think about products from your childhood which are no longer advertised and have completely dropped out of public consciousness.
