First, Biden spams. A LOT. US has no national GDPR. Impossible to get taken off of political campaign lists. So Boden isn't the only offender!
Marketers are investing in print advertising because everyone is working from home and this is now a very good way to reach people where they physically are. it's also harder to ignore than an email. Print's more effective than it's been in the last decade. So yes, the uptick in the numbers of catalogues you're getting isn't your imagination, it's a pandemic reaction marketing trend.
So some companies try to dress it up as a "service" email. Doesn't work.
Some of the emails will certainly toe the line, but pass the "legitimate interest" test. Browsed a specific web page? Put a product in the cart & then never purchased? Made a transaction 5 years ago and now there's an updated version of what you bought, or it comes in a different colour? Legitimate interest in the product.
These are all also examples of automated campaigns. They're triggered by your behavior and sent out individually, not to a broad mailing list. That's another way in which they stay within the bounds of GDPR -- personalisation.
Not only does it fall within the bounds of GDPR, it does work from a marketing standpoint. It takes significant time and ££ to create automated campaigns, with investment in the tech, designing the emails, monitoring the campaigns, etc. -- companies aren't putting this level of investment in something that doesn't work.
You can, under GDPR, have your data scrubbed entirely. But even then, sites with logins, etc. can still send you messages based on privacy/account changes (legally required.) So you never really get out of the system, you just go onto a suppression list.