The Hidden Persuaders Quotes

“You can probably make them do anything for you: Sell people things they don’t need; make women who don’t know you fall in love with you.”
― Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders

“It is dangerous to asume that people can be trusted to behave in a rational way (...)

What the probers are looking for, of course, are the "whys" of our behavior, so that they can more effectively manipulate our habits and choices in their favor.”
― Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders

“One of the interesting variations, under the ways to fulfil ‘wish for attention’ through car ownership, is what the investigators call ‘conspicuous reserve’. Those people want other people to know their status but at the same time want to express it modestly. Some may engage in deliberate downgrading. This is ‘a frequent technique of people who are secure in their high social position. They show their superiority by displaying indifference to status - by purposely buying less expensive cars than they might be expected. They love beat-up station wagons and old cars.”
― Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders