These companies DO advertise, and have done for many decades (in my personal memory - which only goes back to about 1950). It's very likely that the places the

These companies DO advertise, and have done for many decades (in my personal memory - which only goes back to about 1950). It's very likely that the places they advertise are not places where YOU would see them. Like the Mercedes-Benz Magazine which is sent directly to Mercedes-Benz owners, or the in-flight magazine for flyers in first/business class of international airlines. (The target market is very unlikely to be amongst the shoppers who buy at K-Mart, for instance.)