Branded for Life: How Americans are Brainwashed by the Brands We Love [Hardcover]

Howard J. Blumenthal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 2005

Written by a senior marketing and media executive, Branded for Life makes sense of a world where Wal-Mart is richer than 85% of the nations on earth; where well-informed, obese consumers continue to drink Coke and eat at McDonalds; where rabbis discuss market segmentation strategies to counteract declining market share; and where naming rights to newborns may be sold to the highest corporate bidder.

Branded for Life explains who we really are as consumers, and how large corporations and political leaders exploit our trust. The book also provides sane, actionable advice for people who want to make a difference.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Just as Eric Schlosser delivered a sobering indictment of todays fast food industry in Fast Food Nation, BRANDED FOR LIFE: HOW AMERICANS ARE BRAINWASHED BY THE BRANDS WE LOVE provides a frightening inside view of media manipulation at work.

About the Author

Howard J. Blumenthal is the author of more than 20 books, including The Creative Professional: A Survival Guide for the Business World. Blumenthal wrote a popular newspaper column about consumer products, which was distributed by The New York Times Syndicate and United Features to over 100 newspapers. He was the force behind one of television's popular 1990s brands, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and has been a Senior Vice President of Marketing for several large companies.

His work has won awards in advertising (Addy Award), television (Peabody Award; multiple Emmy Awards), and publishing (Ben Franklin Award), and has been featured in Newsweek and on CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN. He has worked with a broad range of companies and institutions including MTV, Nickelodeon, RCA, PBS, AOL, The New York Times, Merriam-Webster, and New School University. He lives in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Clerisy Press, Emmis Books (December 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578602416
• ISBN-13: 978-1578602414
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,850,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tries to be academic but is not., September 30, 2011

By 

Daniel Lukas (Springfield, Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Branded for Life: How Americans are Brainwashed by the Brands We Love (Hardcover)

Howard J. Blumenthal tries real hard to make this book look like an academic work. Each chapter ends with end notes, and is full of numbers. Sadly that is as far as it goes. Most of the chapters are based on someone Else's work which the author freely admits. One end note reads, "Much of this information, and much of my inspiration for my further research and calculations, come from..... The problem is that everything he cites supports his theory his idea there is no counter argument. The reader is never given any alternative information so they can decide for themselves if they agree with Mr. Blumenthal. In some cases the "facts" given are not even end-noted leaving the reader to wonder where the author got his statistics. In other cases it is stated that numerous sources have confirmed this yet we are only given one actually source.

The book comes across as paranoid at times as we are told that the corporations control everything and every aspect of our lives and have brainwashed us to buy into their false reality. Yet the author then promotes very specific New York local brands in the chapter entitled We are What we Eat he no less than three times declares one should spend the extra money and go to this New York establishment. In one chapter Mr. Blumenthal decries credit cards while telling his readers how he, and his wife decided their college age son had to have one even though they are so evil.

Personal opinions abound set off by exclamation points. The sad thing is the book has great potential it really does and the numbers and statistics are interesting. Unfortunately if you are like me you will probably become more upset the more you read because the bias becomes more blatant with each passing chapter. It is worth a read but I would not recommend buying it instead get it from the library.