Blaming "Big brands" for what could also be concerted effort by the owners of these "Big brands" and their friends to affect control over political speech.

Blaming advertising gets tiresome. It is a device, not the cause, of "dumbing down" of Western discourse and curtailing of free political speech.

If you insist that it is "advertising" that is the cause of this malaise, then you must agree that "advertising" is not compatible with modern free democtratic societies and needs to be made illegal.