Are you advertising-resistant?

Many people that work in advertising can attest to the fact that when you first tell your friends or family that you work in advertising, the first reaction besides the initial hatred for your profession is that they often say "Advertising doesn't really effect me or my purchasing decisions". Recently, when my aunt emphatically claimed she is no way swayed by advertising, I launched into a passionate defense of my profession trying to convince her that the role of advertising is to make consumer familiar with the brand and communicate a unique difference in a product which may not be actually existent. In essence I was making the case that the job of advertising is not to sell products but to create a psychological difference between the brand and competitors in the market... She was unconvinced and so was I. Advertising as it exists today sucks and thats why people want to avoid it at all costs. Bad advertising is actually what led me to get into the industry. I figured there must be a better what to communicate with consumers. I believe that the best advertising (in any media) is based on a deep consumer insight that attempts to get to the core of why people use a product. It is both entertaining and informative. Most advertising I see is superficial and hardly gets to the essence of the relationship between the brand and the consumer. This leads to the advertising being rejected and disregarded as an annoyance that should be avoided if possible. Here is a quote whose source I can not remember 

“Advertising is a Trojan horse, good advertising has an attractive exterior, resembles a gift and delights the heart. But inside, the hard-hitting core is consistently aimed at a specific target”. 

Are you advertising-resistant? Although messages you are exposed to probably have an effect on your behavior that is outside your awareness, bad advertising is extremely distasteful and probably ineffective. Good Advertising based on a deep consumer insight however cannot be so easily disregarded.