Well played, sir...

I get your point though.  I've watched some movies (at home) based off friend's recommendations from them seeing it. 

So you are saying we are all just walking ads.  Mind blown.

Movies wasn't a great example because it's not a product you really need. Something like footwear would have been better. At some point in time you're going to need new shoes or boots or crocs and that ad will at the very least be in the back of your mind. It may not be enough to influence you to purchase their brand, but it will have influenced you in some manner. The ad may not have immediately accomplished it's number one goal but it didn't completely fail either because it's likely to come into play at some point in time later on, even if not directly through your wallet.

Well, actually marketing firms already have tried to influence the recommendations you get from your friends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

Funny mention shoes because brand I went with most past decade or so would be New Balance and I have never seen a New Balance ad.  I tried them out one time after having trouble with Nike and others (have a wide flat foot and size 12 to 13).  Most other companies even their wide versions have high arcs on heels.  I tried New Balance at store putting aside my these are old people shoes bias and found out they were comfortable.  Maybe one person recommended them to me but think switch was due to frustration with other brands.  I still wear Nikes but have to get a size or two bigger some reason they inflate their shoe size to make people feel better?

I honestly have never seen a New Balance ad that I can remember yet I ended up gravitating to the company.  Plus their big size shoes are still made in USA.

I have watched plenty of movies because of movie trailers. Those are all ads.

My parents wear NB and have for like a decade now, maybe more. They tried them because of the commercials. I remember mom pointing them out when they were on TV because she was so impressed with them after she bought her first pair. Nike and Adidas shoes were getting more and more expensive but weren't lasting near as long, so they tried NB and loved them. Even though I have wider somewhat flat feet as well, the NB didn't have enough arch for me. I ended up finding a Reebok that fit quite well, and went back like 6 months later since they seemed durable, and bought enough for years. I eventually went back to Adidas since the prices got a little better but the quality went way up.

I don't doubt you didn't see ads because I also remember mom saying the lady at the store was surprised to hear she had seen an ad because they were not a very well known brand and didn't market much. Maybe it was just a Canada or southern Ontario thing. We used to always watch the local news channel which was really small scale (which no longer exists), so maybe that was where we saw it. Wouldn't have cost NB much to advertise there.

So in short, ads only work cause we're dumb. I can't disagree with that haha.

You have good taste, if I had more expendable cash and people to eat with, I wont lie such an ad would probably make me want to go to Red Lobster too. But in general, even with a sale, if I don't need the product then I still wont get it.

Have you been stalking me, otherwise you can't know whether or not I've been purchasing stuff because of ads, only I have that information, and I can say that I haven't for years. If you don't wanna believe me that's fine, but you can't speak with certainty on this matter. Unfortunately you're right about it being worth it to have ads especially if they're really so cheap.

They are wasted on me (not that they target me specifically lul). I'll forget the ad in seconds if I even bothered paying any attention to it, plus I have no one I'd share it with anyway. I'm just one guy who's clearly in the minority of course.

I acknowledge that they work, just not on me, and I still think I'd wish they didn't work on anyone. Then again, where would the entertainment industry be without them. They're a necessary evil I suppose.

The best winter/ice/snow levels thread instantly made me think of 1080 Snowboarding, even though it's entirely a winter game. I played that game so much on N64, about as much as Goldeneye I would say, which was a lot. I just realized the box art has Lamar Snowboards and if I remember correctly there are more to choose from in game, which isn't a surprise because Lamar was the go to brand back then, except for that this was on a Nin console.

Anyway, the point is, 1080 was the reason I tried snowboarding, and while my first snowboard was a cheap plastic no name brand to learn on, when I did get a legit board a couple of years later, it was a Lamar. Which I chose, and till this day I've only ever bought Lamar boards, even though they've been a fairly generic brand for a while now. While I had also seen Lamar boards in magazines back then, I never thought about the fact that they were in a game I played a lot, or maybe I did and didn't realize it.

While I know I was way more easily influenced when I was younger, I never realized this, until now. What else haven't I realized when it comes to ads and purchases?

The number of poorly made freeware games I have downloaded due to an ad on my phone (and proceeded not to pay money on) probably numbers over 50.

In terms of "real" games then no, not really. I liked to read the reviews first.