Spot on - and I don't think this is new. Go back to newspaper ads in the 19th century and many (perhaps most) can be categorized as trying to create new needs. We're just better at it than we used to be.

I am quite happy with buying things I didn't need. I work to buy luxury(and I say this as a nomad who lives out of a single luggage with 6 t-shirts). Most of what we buy today were not available a couple of centuries ago and yet quite a large population would swear that they are "needs".

There are too many ads but it is possible to avoid a great percentage of them if inclined. My interaction with ads is pretty minimal and when presented often enjoyable. Using uBlock Origin I don't see ads on most sites. Youtube premium means no ads there as well. Spotify premium, so no ads for music. Video streaming services like netflix don't have ads.

My only ad interaction left is reddit(which offers premium) and podcasts or youtube video in-content ads where they are narrated by the creators whose content I am happy to support and in some cases I find the way they switch to ads quite funny.