Customer Reviews

The Hidden Persuaders

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Written at the cusp of the 'consumer revolution', this book is both a quaint historical piece and a prophesy of what was to come. The tangential thesis of the book is that by the mid-fifties, the standard problems in capitalism -- those of production and distribution of goods -- were solved, but that this introduced another problem: all of these goods must be consumed. So, it became necessary to step up the techniques used to market these goods.

Advertising was nothing new, but the psychological intricacy and sophistication in it was ratcheted up significantly. Using Freud, Jung, and whatever other foundation proved workable, social scientists and psychoanalysts honed their skills to develop an ever-growing repertoire of tricks that would induce us all to spend and consume at ever-higher levels.

Two things make the book relevant today: 1) nothing has changed either in the economic situation or in the techniques, except that both have become even more intense (two thirds of the 2002 U.S. GNP depends on consumer spending); and 2) no other book has yet come forward to do a better job at showing, in great anecdotal detail and for a broad audience, what depth marketing is all about.

THE HIDDEN PERSUADERS by Vance Packard stands as one of the more eye-opening accounts of the development of the motivational sciences in the 20th Century. What is being described by Packard is the evolution of a systematic relationship between merchandisers of America's then-booming manufacturing industries who teemed up with Madison Avenue-style advertising firms, who themselves were backed by a network of behavioral scientists. As described by Packard, this network not only developed novel and creative ways of reaching into the psyche of its intended target audiance to tap into hidden motivations; but in the process of turning us all into more compliant consumers, so shifted the values of the entire society that they changed American society for all time. Today many of us have virtually succumbed our natural "reality" to a phony existance based upon presenting an image of ourselves to our peers that is actually based upon media and market-generated values. Once we understand the process that created this vast consumer culture, with all it's attendant neuroses, we can then begin to fashion for ourselves a strategy for recovering our basic humanity. What is being described in THE HIDDEN PERSUADERS, is the origins of a system to manipulate us out of that humanity.

The Hidden Persuaders explores the dark world of advertising and the effects it has upon our minds. Even though it was written originally in 1957, most of its material is still relevant today. At first, one may be lead to the conclusion Vance Packard has gone off the far end with his accusations of subliminal mind control, but he provides so much factual data you finally come to realize this isn't any joking matter. Everyone should read this book, at least to become familiar with its theme, and to increase personal awareness of the underlying messages our minds are exposed to every day. Packard will help you understand virtually hundreds of ways corporations get you to give away your hard earned money readily. He explains not only how companies make you tick, but why they make you tick. After reading the book, you will never watch another commercial or listen to another advertisement the same.

Vance Packard is a man ahead of his times. Although this book was published forty years ago, it is not dated at all. Packard shows us in a witty way how producers hire motivation researchers to determine why consumers buy the products they do. This is the first book I have read on this subject, and it is very interesting to read how people actually have a job in which they determine what motivates a person to buy a product. I knew that a product's appearance had some weight on its probability of selling, but I had no idea as to what extent this occurs in. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. It is very easy to understand and straightforward.

Most of us realize that we are being influenced all the time. What most of us don't realize is just how much we are controlled and influenced. The Hidden Persuaders will describe to you the early efforts made to understand, control and influence people in the name of consumerism and control. This book should scare you, especially when you stop and think about how much more refined the methods are today.

A key point made by the book is the primary difference between manipulation and persuasion is intent. Even the most cursory look at history will tell you that when the tools exist, someone will use them to dominate and control others. In fact, they are being used right now and everyday to control us. The Matrix is alive and well and real.

Read this book.

It is hard to believe that one of the most perceptive and important books on the shaping of modern society is out of print. This book shows how the workings of our minds have been scientifically evaluated, and this knowledged used to manipulate them. Not in any 'X-Files' manner, just straight out appealing to our basic desires and needs. Read this book, and then as yourself what every ad and salesperson is doing to you when you see them. It's all there, so they aren't hard to work out.

A really insightful and illuminating book about the introduction of psychological conditioning methods into product marketing and politics which I consider to be essential reading for anyone who would be aware at this time. What's all the more remarkable is the fact that this book was written at the advent of this development, and the author well understood what it portended. Time to wake up, Neo.

What's really interesting about this book is how old the information is. The ideas Packard described are being presented to us today as relatively novel, as though our culture is just now waking up to the idea that consumerism is about hidden motivations, hypnosis, rationalization and social striving.

Take the example about how people want big cars but feel ashamed of buying them, and how you can help them justify it to themselves by talking about safety. This kind of information is being presented to us in the present as though it were news, but there it was, in 1959.

As for it being dated, well, in some ways it is. Still, a lot of the psychological information still represents our best information about human nature. It's interesting to see theories devised for healing psychological pathology employed for monetary gain, especially if you don't have a background in advertising and marketing.

If you are already an expert in those areas, it might make a fun history lesson.

I met Vance Packard's (1914-1996) work with his The Pyramid Climbers, a pioneer study on American enterprise management developement. The Hidden Persuaders is about a very different subject, and it was also one of the first true considerations on how propaganda, or media manipulation, changes the way America behaves toward franchises, merchandising and, in the end, how it shapes the way we structure our goals and, to use Focualt's title, the order of things. It, of course, shows its age since it was first published in the 1950's. However it is in no way obsolete and thanks to Packard's excellent pen it is a breeze to read, and an excellent example of the so called Pop Sociology.

We have been programmed by marketing strategies, tv commercials, billboards and anything else that marketing strategists can possibly conceive of! The human mind is weak and malleable, some more than others, but read this book to find out how long this has been going on...you won't believe what you find out!