I think what's being suggested here is that these products provide no utility (or even negative utility in the case of antibiotic-resistance-generating antibact

I think what's being suggested here is that these products provide no utility (or even negative utility in the case of antibiotic-resistance-generating antibacterial soaps) and so you're being tricked into buying them for no valid reason. There may be some products you actually do consume for no good reason, but note that even if a product serves no real purpose, it can still have value to you, even if just by making you feel good about owning or using it. You could say that all of fashion is a "scam", because cheap, plain-looking clothes can protect you from the elements just as well as expensive, extravagant clothes. But nevertheless the latter can serve a purpose, such as (for example) social signaling that can enhance your reproductive success -- so it has evolutionary utility. Same with fancy cars, more or less.