Did you know the invented modern santa branding? Prior to that he was more a vagabond/homeless type and much much less jolly.

Snopes has a classic extensive article on that

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/

I wasn't trying to say the contents of the ads aren't novel- just that what they're selling very often isn't.

Its also so very rarely factual - the idea is more for you to believe that 'Disney Land is an important milestone for all happy families'. Or 'Stella Artois is the type of beer a sexy intellectual orders - that's you right?'

I completely believe that ads are a huge part of our culture.

Rarely by dollar amount or by volume? Because I assume, by volume, it must be mostly novel things.

Volume of ads I see, or companies buying ads?

Volume of ads I see is proportional to dollar amount imo. Outside of movie trailers I don't think I've ever seen an ad and been happy to know about whatever it was.