"I once did an audit on everything I've spend money on in the last 3 years and found that almost everything I spent money on is not due to ads"

I was kind of thinking this as well: I hardly buy anything but unprocessed groceries. But then I thought of the kind of ads that don't seek a purchase, the ones that set the background or expectation of the culture. It's harder to document those working.

    "Big government wastes our taxes and taxes are too high" 
    "Our country is the only developed nation without socialized healthcare."
    "It's normal in America to have two cars in a family or to take an annual vacation by airplane."
    "Guns don't kill people, etc."

That stuff is insidious marketing/advertising too. We may be more vulnerable to it than the consumer type.