In his 1957 book, The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard argued that the rush of consumer goods meant advertisers, marketers, and promoters needed to create consumer desire, perpetuating a cycle of materialism.2 Galbraith found this cycle disconcerting because as society became more absorbed by materialism, the superficial differences between the rich and the rest seemed much less distinct. The ostensible democratization of consumerism obfuscated inequality and essentially lulled society into thinking everyone had a slice of the pie and would mask real issues of wealth disparity.
