This is something I've always wondered, how is it that so many people are so weak minded that they buy stuff just cause an ad tells them to?
And my conclusion is that you need to have a brain that is preset and susceptible to advertising and this is probably the case for the majority. It's all about peer pressure. Your friends have a nice car so you must have one too in order for you to justify your own existence. In this context, ads simply steer you towards purchasing one specific brand over another but, as I said, this only works with weak minds.
However that does not work with people like me. When I hear about a brand, I immediately do not trust the ad cause I know they are not here to watch over my interest but only over theirs and all they care for is how much money they can squeeze out of me. Whether it is about small things like Coca-Cola, I'm like ok, maybe that brand has a good taste but this other brand for which I never see commercials tastes good too and is MUCH cheaper so no hammering my brain with Coca-Cola ads EVER makes me buy their drinks...
Or with bigger things like insurance companies. No matter how many times their commercials sound reassuring and tell me how they have my security at heart, I do not fall for it because I know very well about the intrinsic conflict of interest here. Insurance companies are businesses and their ONLY goal is to make money and every time an insurance has to send me money over some mishap they are supposed to cover, they LOSE money, therefore they will OBVIOUSLY do everything in their power to not send me the money and the contracts you sign with them ALWAYS have in small letters some condition, proviso or exception bailing them out of their responsibilities. They do not have my interest at heart and only weak-minded people could ever believe the ads about it.
So I simply don't have any insurance and have saved countless thousands of euros over the years I can use however I want instead of being conned by insurance companies and their enticing ads.
I could give you a ton of examples but these two suffice to make my point I think.
