I don’t know about this assertion. It does not ring true to real life for me.
Advertising probably kills that many people most months when you consider things like:
* Convincing people that various groups needs to be genocided
* Convincing people to use cars instead of less dangerous methods of transportation
* Convincing people to use fossil fuels instead of less polluting forms of energy
* Convincing people to eat unhealthy foods
* Convincing people to smoke cigarettes
I'm not convinced that advertising is less dangerous than nuclear weapons.
So far. Present performance is not indicative of future returns. All it will take is one nut job (who could still be Putin depending on how this turns out) escalating to even a "regional" nuclear war to add a zero or two to that number, and it could happen very quickly.
"Better to Die on Your Feet Than Live on Your Knees" as they say.