It's like doing a scientific study on the common claim of advertisers that "the internet would not exist without advertising".
They're able to quantify how much of an effect it has on happiness as well.
"Our analysis shows that if you doubled advertising spending, it would result in a 3% drop in life satisfaction. That’s about half the drop in life satisfaction you’d see in a person who had gotten divorced or about one-third the drop you’d see in someone who’d become unemployed."
That's a pretty significant amount, and if confirmed could certainly be used as an argument to regulate advertising, or a way for therapists to help improve the lives of their patients, or in many additional ways I haven't thought of in the 30 seconds I've spent thinking about it.
I wouldn't be so quick to be dismissive of "blatantly obvious" scientific studies.