I would love to know from the rest here - isn’t a solution to the ad creep just… not buying things? Like going for second hand / refurbished, avoiding big brands for food and drink, and just not shopping online (ffs)? Or am I being naive? Enlighten me!
Of course working under the assumption that the government cannot (yet) admit to tracking us for more sinister purposes. That’s a problem for another day.
I feel like it should be both. Purely top down decisions eventually lead to distortions and resentment (e.g. USSR). There needs to also be the grinding and mostly thankless work of shifting the cultural hegemony (this is Gramsci, and I tend to believe him).