Final answer:
Ad spending in the US by 2017 was significant, with political campaign spending in 2016 being $6.8 billion. A rough estimate for total ad spending in 2017 could be around $200 billion, considering the growth trends and economic context.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question you've asked pertains to ad spending in the US by 2017. Providing an accurate figure is crucial, and based on the information available, it is clear that the ad spending was significant but not as high as some of the figures mentioned. Considering the context provided about government spending, which is in the trillions, and comparing it to ad spending on political campaigns, we can infer that ad spending would be much less.
In 2016, political campaign spending was $6.8 billion, which was described as less than 1/10 of 1% of the total government spending programs at about $7 trillion. Given the growth of spending in various sectors and inflation, we can project that ad spending in 2017 would potentially be higher than the 2016 figure. However, given the options provided (a. 100 b. 200 c. 50 d. 350 e. 5000, in billions), the most reasonable estimate would be $200 billion(option b), which aligns with the scale of growth in such spending.