I think we've kind of binned advertising into this category of "objectively bad manipulation that ideally stops existing." Probably because there is just SO MUCH JUNK ADVERTISING these days. But I think there's legitimate, win-win occasions for advertising where you get to learn about new stuff and be entertained.
It is less about it being advertising, and more about the medium/how it is done. Those things I listed above are usually high-budget and high-effort. Regular TV ads are the lowest common denominator "bang-per-buck" type of advertising, and no one typically likes those.
While ads are tiresome in general, it's ultimately still an art form that invites some very talented people to contribute to it and benefits from a stupid amount of money. Superbowl ads are as hit and miss as any other short film work and are subject to commercial conceit, but could often become a powerful experience to share with tens of millions of people.
As attention gets more diluted, this becomes an increasingly less ripe opportunity and doesn't warrant quite the same ambition as it used to. But there's nothing "strange" about it historically.
It would be interesting to know if the ad companies did underground campaigning to get the hype of watching commercials as much as trying to make interesting commercials. You know, pre-algo generated feeds. Now, you can see the ads days/weeks in advance of the game rather than a big secret reveal during the game where you might still miss it.
