Its about brand recognition they don't really expect you to click just to know that they exist, and are an option when it comes to decision time.

Naturally they have a click to purchase option

I’ve also seen seemingly normal people argue in favor of user tracking and data harvesting so they could get ads that were more relevant to them. They claimed they genuinely found them useful.

Maybe not always or even mostly but when tired or getting the basics humans tend to go for what they recognize.

Especially noticeable when travelling and there are choices we are not used to seeing and we see the one brand we recognize.

Making the ads clickable is utilizing the real estate.

(scams that rely on you clicking for nefarious purposes are just scammers being scammers, there will always be scams)

There are 2 things I don't understand.

1. Most online ads are illegal in EU, cause it's illegal to lie/mislead in an ad in the EU. The Tai Chi ads, the water pressure thing or the breezamax scams are all I see on Youtube, yet, they're obviously fake, and still running strong. How is it that they're not taken down?

2. The tai chi ad campaign must be costing millions of dollars. Everyone I know is seeing these fifteen times a day. Is anyone actually paying for that crap? Shouldn't Youtube increase the price of ads, so that they make more money and actually push scammers off the platform?

It doesn't make any sense

If they didn't work, people wouldn't run ads.

I like clicking ads! I work and I have money to spend on things I like.

Only people who make sausages don’t eat them. Only people who create news don’t trust them.

Not I. No idea.