alt Hacker NewsAs someone who has worked in ads, this is scifi. Nobody is building mind control into BLACK HOLIDAY SALE ads. If that were true I could get you to buy long haul truck gearboxes or donate to save the slime mold foundation.
People buy to solve the problems they already had. All ads do is give them a timely reminder of something they were already thinking about.
Nothing says 'solving a pre-existing problem' quite like convincing someone that their evening would be better with a gambling problem.