[throwaway2037]

Hell yes. +9000 for your post. To me, the solution is much transparency around paid product placement through strong regulation.

See "Parasocial interaction".

    Parasocial interaction (PSI) refers to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience in their mediated encounters with performers in the mass media, particularly on television and on online platforms. Viewers or listeners come to consider media personalities as friends, despite having no or limited interactions with them. PSI is described as an illusory experience, such that media audiences interact with personas (e.g., talk show hosts, celebrities, fictional characters, social media influencers) as if they are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them. The term was coined by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in 1956.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction