Having read the article, it seems they are concluding a causality that isn't necessarily there.
The whole study is based on: there's a correlation between advertising spend per capita and life satisfaction between countries in Europe.
Now that COULD mean advertising is making people unhappy.
Or it could mean that people who are less satisfied tend to buy more crap and when people buy more crap they get more advertising. It's not as if advertisers are stupid.
The researcher in the article even admits to this being a one off with no other studies backing his claim. Now what's more likely, he discovered something no one else has, or he misinterpreted the data?
The whole study is based on: there's a correlation between advertising spend per capita and life satisfaction between countries in Europe.
Now that COULD mean advertising is making people unhappy.
Or it could mean that people who are less satisfied tend to buy more crap and when people buy more crap they get more advertising. It's not as if advertisers are stupid.
The researcher in the article even admits to this being a one off with no other studies backing his claim. Now what's more likely, he discovered something no one else has, or he misinterpreted the data?