Is this really a plausible theory of how advertising works? Much advertising really is just informational (or the thing where you need to advertise your company under its own name on Google), but if the ‘manipulation’ stuff is so straightforward, couldn’t feeble-minded people such as myself ‘advertise’ to themselves to behave more in ways they otherwise wouldn’t? I’ve come round to the argument that a social element (of knowing that many others have seen the same ad) is important.