Ads definitely do work, otherwise companies wouldn’t pay millions for them. Sometimes it’s less about influencing you to immediately make a purchase, and more about subconscious brand awareness.

I’m the same way. I have an essentially inverse relationship with ads - the more ads I see for something, the more convinced I become that it’s not something I might want. After all, my reasoning goes, if it was actually a product worth having, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to convince people to buy it.

Me falling for an ad was what got me off Facebook. I have a leather jacket now.

I have a mental list of places i refuse to visit or purchase from because of advertisements. Doesn’t work for everything, but a radio ad for a a new shiny thing i don’t want… yeah, no thanks onto my list.

Ads are nonconsensual noise. I will always research my available choices. No ad is going to sway me. If anything, I’ll make a point not to buy a product if it was advertised at me. I don’t understand how the entire advertisement industry isn’t simply a waste of money for companies. Are people grabbing random products off the shelf based on vague memories of a jingle? Who is giving advertisers a return on the investment? I simply can’t wrap my head around it.

Back in the days of over-the-air television I’m sure plenty of toys and foods were sold by ads. As a kid you saw other kids playing with GI Joe toys and think “I want that!” Same sort of thing probably happens in game ads now. Even as an adult I consciously resist ads but I’m sure I have become aware of a few products/services via ads and later purchased them.

For a business ads can be one of the best ways to make potential customers aware of what your business offers. But like anything else, ads can be too little or too much, in terms of both content and cost. And it’s easy to get over-saturated with ads. Like YouTube when they want you to watch several ads for a 3 minute video. Sometimes the ads are longer than the video.