It works incredibly well, that's why it keeps happening. Most people do follow pretty much exactly that thought process.

Merely by participating on this forum etc etc etc

That's fair. I just don't get it. It's obvious to me that it's paid for and my assumption is that the person probably hasn't even used the product. So for me, yeah it doesn't work. But you're right, there's a reason these celebs keep getting insane payments for these ads.