Basically American as for the data he analyzes, out of date for the most of it, but still interesting in some parts

Reading this book in 2023 --- almost 70 years after its first publication --- is such a wild read. Where do I even start.

The Hidden Persuaders describes the very beginnings of western consumption-driven economies and societies: more, bigger, better. Never happy, always consuming. The machine must keep running.

From products we use to products we use-up; planned obsolescence; ads addressing our insecurities and fears. It's all there in this book documenting it's very beginnings.

By now in 2023 we have perfected this consumption machine and it's running at an unimaginable speed and impact on our lives.

It's no longer paper ads and pickles in a jar for sure: It's the internet running on ads, big tech like Facebook and Google running on ads. We have influencers, and the emergent LLMs who --- no surprise --- are getting used to make us consume consume consume.

The last 50 years have seen the ideas and thoughts outlined in this book taken to the extreme.

Reading this book in the context of its publication date (the 1950s), with morbid curiosity I can't wait to see what the next 30 years will have in store for us.

Great insights into commercialism and advertising! A must read for young adults in particular who are still maturing their attitudes.

Superbly written and a warning to the future, which we are now living in.

"The history of America since the Civil War is, in large part, a history of conquest by commercial advertising." - from the intro by Mark Crispin Miller.

dated but.....

It was interesting...

Officially obsessed with Mad Men.

ahead of its time in some areas, extremely dated in others

Explains why we are too often pawns in Madison Avenue's games.

An essay I read inspired me to read this 50-year old expose of the uses of psychology to sell consumer items and political candidates. I vaguely remember the author, Vance Packard, had a string of best-sellers in the fifties and early sixties, all of them slightly sensationalized discussions of social science issues. "The Hidden Persuaders" is mostly a historical document by now, Packard's concern about the manipulation of public opinions old hat, but it is sometimes prescient and at least once raises a basic question about the viability of an economy based on more and more production and consumption of products no one needs.

The Hidden Persuaders is not a new book but it is definitely a classic. I do not know if the book has been updated to include changes in recent decades (e.g. e-commerce and digital advertising), its basic premise of how consumers are manipulated, the various methods companies use to get their message across and get us to buy what they want, and the psychological underpinnings are still valid today. In any case, an important work which throws light on what we as people are subject to, and despite claims of quality, sustainability, being in the public interest etc, we see what companies are motivated by and how they try to achieve their goals.