Disagree somewhat. I think the US has been a propaganda spewing machine my entire life. I think most ads have always been used to simultaneously sell & social engineer. Most of what is thought of as "success" in this country can be directly attributable to marketers & advertisers. I think people on the right are only noticing this because they're the ones that social engineers are now trying to social engineer out of existence. For example, take any make up ad. It usually ends with some model or celebrity telling their target audience that "You deserve this," which sounds like some empowering statement about a woman's worth when what it's really saying is, "You deserve to give us your hard earned cash for this product because if you really deserved it we'd give the damn thing to you for free." As far as "breaking the spell" I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Advertising is a billion dollar industry that no company or government would use if it didn't work and work well.