"that $4.50 gross margin is stuffed into a system of relative inefficiency up and down the economy. much of it in 'nearly useless ads'." is easy to disprove because we know how much these companies spend on advertising (and marketing more broadly) and how much product they sell.
It's more like 25% of their budget.
https://www.statista.com/topics/7725/cpg-industry-advertisin...