Car commercials are also playing a long game of occupying the mental space people have for what a "good car brand" is. There's a reason people in the US think about Buick, Honda, Toyota, and Ford more than they think about, say, Mazda or Suzuki. Mazda makes damn fine consumer vehicles, but they're a smaller company without the advertising budget of an industry titan, so even if their cars are basically on-par with any given Honda or Toyota sedan, and the Miata is a deeply beloved car model for enthusiasts, average consumers don't give them as much headspace.