But don't other people (not only engineers) also slowly realize that all these emotion-appealing ads are deceiving? Don't they want to be informed, and not brainwashed and exploited?
Do they? I think it's mainly about how much energy you are willing to invest into making rational decisions over emotional/"gut" ones. I mean, in the end, it probably doesn't matter which kind of shaving cream you buy, so it's easiest to go with the one that (due to e.g. ad-created familiarity bias, or just "niceness" of visual presentation) you have the best feeling about.
