Hidden Persuaders, by Vance Packard

[p023] The Hidden Persuaders, by Vance Packard. Penguin, 2s. 6d. When US Capitalists in 1955 pay out some $9,000 million on a project there certainly is a real need for it, and advertizing is not just to let the public know what products are on the market. Packard’s study of the ‘depth’ method of advertizing is frightening, especially in the chapters on methods. of ‘putting over’ what are called ‘images’. He shows how the same methods of ‘selling’ are used for soaps and Senators alike in an effort to replace rational thought and critical comparison with public ‘ images’. American capitalism, faced with a crisis of over-production, had to seek ways of boosting the market for consumer goods. The ‘old’ methods of advertizing were not effective enough and so the psychologists were called in to find the public’s subcon- scious weaknesses and find methods of playing. to these. Snob values, sex, recollection of - happy childhood days and all per- versions were played.up to by the new type of ad-men who were poured out of the Universities armed with psychology degrees and all dedicated to the ‘God of the Markets’. These products of man’s progress help those - -able to pay the price to put over the ‘image’ of a product, a politician or a ‘personality’. They regard the public as ‘Just so many slobs’ who take no heed of quality and just buy or vote according to what satisfies their oral, anal or other complexes after contact with constant adver- tizing. This is a book with no opinions expressed that challenge the class roots of this new evil that grows out of an unplanned economy, but it does show yet another example of the vast accumulated knowledge of mankind being used not for the benefit of people who need help but for the profits of the more wealthy mono- polies. 21 Their Willy