They are among us
Debates about the need to limit or monitor advertising usually centre around what we see on TV. An article in last Sunday's New York Times magazine, "The hidden (in plain sight) persuaders" by Rob Walker, lifted the lid on a sinister new twist, human infomercials. US companies are recruiting ordinary members of the public to act as living advertisements for various products: throw a barbecue and tell all your friends and family how great these new chicken sausages are! There are an estimated 20,000 people across the US who have been co-opted by the marketeers for this very purpose. The idea, of course, is that word-of-mouth marketing is by far the most effective. But, how would you feel if you found out your closest friends were involved in this racket? It would certainly leave a sour taste in my mouth. From an army of police informers to an army of 'informed consumers', history repeats in the strangest ways: Welcome to the new (improved) iron curtain!
posted by Justin Toland at 8:45 pm
2 Comments:
Just as an aside, the reference to the 'hidden persuaders' alludes to Vance Packard's classic 'The Hidden Persuaders', a 1950s expose of the advertising and PR industry, now amazingly out of print. It shouldn't be because it tells you everything you need to know about how marketing works, it's also fascinating and informative on the first developments of political marketing in the US after the second world war. Plus ça change.
There's also a good book on the (mainly British) PR industry called 'The Invisible Persuaders', by David Michie, also out of print and hard to find. Do I smell a conspiracy to silence certain voices?
Interesting comment from anon. And here are more Hidden Persuaders, sorry 'school chairmen'. This time the marketeers have bitten off more than they can chew, it seems:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1377668,00.html
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