There are a lot of things that are cheaper or even free because they have ads. And enough people are willing to use products and services like that because they don't care and rather have more money in their pockets.

You just figured this out?

Ka-pi96 said: That's not an issue for clothes with me, I buy the cheapest/plainest ones possible But otherwise... I disagree. Like, I'm a huge Pokemon fan and I love collecting Pokemon plushies. I don't see them as advertising, but rather the thing I actually want. If anything it's the games/anime that are advertising the cute little cuddly plushies to me.

Children's cartoons have been accused of just being commercials to sell their merchandise, so you're probably right about the anime being an advertisement.

ive always felt this way about clothing brands. they dont do anything except make clothes, so why am i buying a shirt with their logo on it? if i bought a shirt with a TV show or a video game on it, at least i would be supporting an actual thing, but clothing brands just make clothes. they dont even do anything. why are they popular?

Status symbols and some people literally have too much money.

I used to religiously buy the Roots brand in Canada because their clothes were made in Canada and their quality used to be great.  But lately they've outsourced their clothes to 3rd world countries and their quality suffered as a result.  I no longer buy the brand and when I see the name in the wild, I chuckle thinking 'you just paid $150.00 for the same quality sweater that Walmart sells for $20'.

Its even more ridiculous when people buy youtuber merch. lol

Yeah, that's always one way of thinking about it. I've thought about it in terms of just being advertising before, but after awhile I just stopped caring and just decided to wear what I want to wear, even if it is for some brand, or franchise, or something.