My attitude to advertising is similar to what detroyt and some others have said. It certainly can make me aware of products and services that I might want, but I tend to be frugal, er maybe stingy is a better way of putting it, and obviously some of my tastes are well out of the mainstream. So--I don't buy a whole lot by American standards; I usually research things and don't do much impulse buying; and a fair amount of what I do buy, I learn about by word of mouth or through forums such as this one. And it does help that my family and I watch next to no TV.
We got on a calling list somewhere for focus groups, and I would have been happy to earn forty bucks to sit in a room for an hour or two talking about toothpaste, but every time they'd call me, the person would ask a few questions and tell me sorry, I didn't fit the profile they were looking for. Eventually they stopped calling.
Basically, most advertisers hate me and wish I would go ahead and die, and make room for somebody normal. :D
~Rich