I can make at least three people IRL that do this regularly.
My business has had huge success with promoted listings on eBay. People will gladly pay 20% more for a sponsored item rather than scroll down literally one inch to get better organic results.
Even if these people are a tiny minority population-wise, they make up a disproportionate percentage of people that waste money on frivolous or overpriced goods.
Intriguing!
I am new business, and my online ads campaign seen by 4000+ people produced maybe about 2 installations. Appealing to people in real life was much more effective for me.
I know my target audience is in the hundreds of thousands but I just cannot reach them through more or less blind online ads.
As someone else pointed out in a different thread, it depends a lot on what your product is. If you're selling something aimed at a highly tech-literate, "elite" audience, ads will likely be much less effective than if you're selling, say, decorated cupcakes.
Very different from most people on HN, but very common in reality. I've witnessed this exact thing multiple times: see an ad for something, immediately have to go get it.
Who are these people who see an advertisement on the side of the road and then go out and buy that very thing?