Oh people know they're being sold and watched, it is just that many can't resist in a very literal sense, because they have stressors that outweigh lost (seemingly theoretical) freedom by manyfold.
Both your question and the answers are a sign of a healthy (oblivious) detachment from advertised society, IMO. Advertising works. Not to you, because you have the mental infrastructure to not want it to work. The right kind of advertising would work on you too, it's probably just not profitable.
Oh people know they're being sold and watched, it is just that many can't resist in a very literal sense, because they have stressors that outweigh lost (seemingly theoretical) freedom by manyfold.