A theory as to why the ads are so useless to people despite the above: Who has the most to gain from being shown in these advertising spots? Those who would no

A theory as to why the ads are so useless to people despite the above: Who has the most to gain from being shown in these advertising spots? Those who would not be purchased otherwise. If you are the default choice, maybe some amount of people will be swayed by the competitors ad, but % wise, not a huge amount. Who wouldn't be purchased otherwise? Those without recognition otherwise. This could be those who are simply too small to be known, or those who are "just another no name brand" with possibly questionable quality. Of these two groups, it's the latter who will have more money to spend - the "small" sellers by definition don't have the marketing budget. So it's those selling crap in volume who have both the incentive and the resources to put the most into these ads, and why they end up showing up disproportionately among the advertisments.