A regular person sees about 5 hours of TV per day of which 30% is advertising. That is over an hour every day of messages telling you what you need to buy to be happy and where you need to travel, what kind of esthetic surgery to have, which car to drive, etc.
The main problem here is that the messages are disingenuous. They present the product being used by beautiful, smiling, sexy people, thus associating it with well being. We are constantly being told: you must get product X or visit country Y and your ego will be rewarded, more attractive, more successful. It's all about self image, how you see yourself. Very very insidious, because the self image is one of the most delicate and vulnerable parts of our psyche.
An opposite to watching ads would be to do mindfulness meditation and cleanse your mind of all this crap thoughts and fake values which are not in your best interest.