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How can you say that with any confidence, while at the same time admitting you have not looked into it?

Because the majority of advertising is for mundane products, which are unlikely to influence people politically.

The majority of politics is to do with the exceptionally mundane and politics in market based economies are as much about what people buy as who they vote for.

If you want a perfect example of this, go back to the start of modern advertising and look up the phrase "Torches Of Freedom" and Edward Bernays.

In the case you cite, advertisers were piggy backing on the feminist movement to sell cigarettes to women because there was a stigma against women smoking.

In what way did this harm democracy? Cigarettes are dying off, because of scientific discoveries, if anything this demonstrates my point.

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