I don't have time to track down other articles, but if your point was that there are very valuable brands that don't advertise as much as others, you are right.

However, advertising when you are a large brand serves a different function than when you are smaller. Large brands need to protect their position in the market, smaller brands need to drive sales.

My guess about your original comment is that you were exposed to Target back to school commercials recently and so they appeared like a larger advertiser than amazon or walmart who focus less on back to school.

The reality though is that advertising comes in many shapes and sizes, and is bought in many different ways. Limiting this to direct media buying is a little deceptive as some brands engage in PR and other strategies that serve the same goal as advertising, without paying a publisher for placement.

It isn't an equal comparison to use direct ad buying as a barometer to prove that advertising just shifts demand and doesn't create it, when PR and other marketing strategies are arguably the same exact thing, just bought in a different way.