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The Manipulators: A Conspiracy to Make Us Buy
It wasn’t by chance that the 1960s became “The Swinging ‘60s.”
Nor was it by chance that what happened on Madison Avenue in the years leading up to “The Mad Men” Decade --- when Vance Packard wrote “The Hidden Persuaders” --- and what has happened as a result of those years, has changed the world.
This is a story about casting spells. About filling our heads with some catchy tune or a neat slogan that will throb gently in the hidden layers of our brain. About touching buttons; parceling intellect and emotion together; finding ways of saying one thing on the surface and something else beneath it; targeting our hopes; remolding our ambitions; allaying our fears; helping us mascara the face we put on to meet other faces. About selling us back ourselves; priming us for that singular moment when we spot their product somewhere and find ourselves reaching for it, almost uncontrollably, dropping it in our shopping basket, paying for it and bringing it home; then making that product an integral part of our lives, all of this without us ever wondering, why?
This is the unmasking of “The Hidden Persuaders” and how the real “Mad Men” get us to spend.
Nor was it by chance that what happened on Madison Avenue in the years leading up to “The Mad Men” Decade --- when Vance Packard wrote “The Hidden Persuaders” --- and what has happened as a result of those years, has changed the world.
This is a story about casting spells. About filling our heads with some catchy tune or a neat slogan that will throb gently in the hidden layers of our brain. About touching buttons; parceling intellect and emotion together; finding ways of saying one thing on the surface and something else beneath it; targeting our hopes; remolding our ambitions; allaying our fears; helping us mascara the face we put on to meet other faces. About selling us back ourselves; priming us for that singular moment when we spot their product somewhere and find ourselves reaching for it, almost uncontrollably, dropping it in our shopping basket, paying for it and bringing it home; then making that product an integral part of our lives, all of this without us ever wondering, why?
This is the unmasking of “The Hidden Persuaders” and how the real “Mad Men” get us to spend.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 21, 2013
My friend lent me this book about a year ago. It has taken me a year to get through the first chapter.
Now i'm not a huge non-fiction reader, however one chapter in a year is pretty disgraceful. It was just so boring. I couldn't get into it at all. The facts were kind of interesting but it seemed to just go on and on.
Nevertheless i picked it up again and made myself finish the first chapter and would you believe? It took me less than 48 hours to finish the rest of the book. I couldn't put it down!
The book follows the history of marketing and advertising from about the 1950′s right up until the book was written (1998). There was so much information that i'm sure a lot of it went in and out again but i still learnt so much and i enjoyed it. I don't understand why the first chapter was so dull, it certainly isn't a way to capture an audience but once you get past that (please try - it's worth it) you truly are rewarded.
www.readingforthemasses.wordpress.com
Now i'm not a huge non-fiction reader, however one chapter in a year is pretty disgraceful. It was just so boring. I couldn't get into it at all. The facts were kind of interesting but it seemed to just go on and on.
Nevertheless i picked it up again and made myself finish the first chapter and would you believe? It took me less than 48 hours to finish the rest of the book. I couldn't put it down!
The book follows the history of marketing and advertising from about the 1950′s right up until the book was written (1998). There was so much information that i'm sure a lot of it went in and out again but i still learnt so much and i enjoyed it. I don't understand why the first chapter was so dull, it certainly isn't a way to capture an audience but once you get past that (please try - it's worth it) you truly are rewarded.
www.readingforthemasses.wordpress.com
March 17, 2014
Interesting stuff, if a bit dated in places.
As others have said, skip the dull first chapter!
As others have said, skip the dull first chapter!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews