This article has some relevant points but it exaggerates the effectiveness of online adverting. Generic display ads have a CTR of 0.05%. With good targeting it'

This article has some relevant points but it exaggerates the effectiveness of online adverting. Generic display ads have a CTR of 0.05%. With good targeting it's bumped up to 0.1-0.2%. Newsfeed is somewhat stronger in the 0.5-2% range. There are issues with online advertising that need to be addressed but let's not pretend it's some sort of supremely effective form of manipulation.