For me, "brand awareness" comes from news coverage, not ads. I know that ads are biased, so I ignore them.
I actively avoid seeing them. I use ad-blockers, and have for over a decade. When I commonly read print media, I used to go through first and tear out all the ads, seeing them as little as possible, and pasting blank paper over the ones that had desired text on the other side.
When driving, I avoid looking at billboards, just as I avoid looking at oncoming lights at night.
I also don't trust news coverage. I especially don't trust favorable news coverage, because that's often advertorial. That does create bias I know. And if I'm actively interested in something, I read a variety of media, from different countries.
To each his or her own, I guess. Do you close your eyes when venturing outside as well? Also, as I am sure you are aware, much of what you read has been pitched and influenced by PR agencies: that’s what they do. When you read about a product in some publication, that product didn’t just randomly find itself as part of a story, a PR firm helped get it there. I might suggest that you might be a bit naïve about how advertising, media and PR work. You can’t escape it even if you think you are.
I don 't close my eyes outside, no. But I do trash ads, whenever I can. Back in the hardcore days, I carried stickers with moisture-catalyzed adhesive. Once those suckers cured, sand-blasting was the only option. Now I just carry black markers ;)