I think it more likely points to the fact that the advertising industry is completely out of touch with reality. People buy products regardless of if any advertising occurs or not, some things people just have to have, some things people want and research before buying, some things are impulse buys when they walk by them.
Thing is, even if you didn't follow any advertising to find a product or service, you still pay for the advertising of that product or service when you purchase it. The tagline has always been "half of the money spent on advertising is wasted, we just don't know which half", but I contend that it is FAR worse than that, I suspect it's more like 95%+ is wasted, companies swear that by throwing their product in our face at every opportunity we'll be more likely to buy from them, but I don't think it always works that way.
So yes, you spend way more than $230 a year on product and services in general, and about $230 of that money you spend on stuff you want/need didn't go to the company you gave it to, but instead to advertising that you didn't care about.
The marketing industry is completely out of control, and it costs society an inordinate amount of money.