Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide For A Consumer Society (Critical Studies in Communication & in Cultural Industries) [Paperback]

Michael Jacobson (Author), Laurie Mazur (Author), Ron Collins (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813319811 | ISBN-13: 978-0813319810 | Publication Date: April 12, 1995

In 1983, Reese’s Pieces made their debut on the silver screen, gobbled up by that lovable alien ET, and sales of the candy shot up instantly by 66 percent. Reebok has sponsored the U.S. Olympic team—and the Russian team, as well! The British Boy Scouts sell space on their merit badges to advertisers.Michael Jacobson, founder of the Washington, D.C.–based watchdog group, Center for the Study of Commercialism (CSC), and Laurie Ann Mazur have produced the book on marketing mania in the United States and the deleterious effects it is having on our ailing culture. Beyond documenting the “unholy alliance” between corporations and Hollywood, the authors take up such disquieting issues as how marketers turn citizens into consumers, the quiet battle between private consumption and social welfare, ads that kill (alcohol and tobacco), the litter of billboards, stealth advertising, corporate interference with public television, the commercialization of Christmas, sex in advertising, marketing in our public schools, and the selling of social issues.This highly readable book interlocks fascinating illustrations with hard statistics and analysis drawn from years of research conducted under the aegis of the CSC. The result is a powerfully revealing book that informs, astounds, enrages, and instructs. It is a primer on the social ills of commercialism gone rampant, a call to action for all concerned citizens. As the authors contend, this book “documents the problem, analyzes its effects, and empowers the reader by offering ‘what you can do’ suggestions for personal action.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adding to the growing literature on consumerism and the media is this accessible, generously illustrated tour of America's seemingly limitless marketing outlets. Packing their text with examples, the authors cover the gamut of methods used to push products, including infomercials and advertorials, product placement in movies, targeting of children, telemarketing and outright lies. In part because analyzing commercialism has become a popular way to critique capitalism, this book will be of use to everyone from parents' groups concerned about children's increasing materialism to feminists outraged by the use of women's bodies in advertising. The authors look beyond analysis to offer models for action. Tips for talking back to marketeers conclude each chapter, a "call to action" ends the book and, throughout, the authors document examples of grassroots opposition. In North Dakota, for example, 650 students walked out of school to protest being force-fed Channel One. These features make this a true "survival guide" and suggest that there may be ways to slow?if not stop?the up to 3000 sales pitches, advertisements and other encroachments that bombard us daily.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Here we leave the narrow path of righteousness and thrift for the broad avenue of Madison and mammon. Jacobson, founder of the Center for the Study of Commercialism, and consultant Mazur here present a critique of the role the advertising industry plays in our consumer society. The authors correctly observe that we are bombarded at every turn by marketing messages, from billboards to product placements to carloads of junkmail. They lay a multitude of sins at the door of the ad industry, from pollution to domestic violence to racial genocide. This book is well written and researched and is for the most part insightful. However, at times the authors adopt a sanctimonious tone and offer up simplistic analyses and solutions to complex social issues. Recommended for communications and sociology collections.?Edward Buller, "Natural History," American Museum of Natural History
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (April 12, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813319811
• ISBN-13: 978-0813319810
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,431,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, March 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide For A Consumer Society (Critical Studies in Communication & in Cultural Industries) (Paperback)

This book is extremely readable and informative. It is a true eye-opener for anyone who is not already a professional in the advertising or marketing fields. I think it will help me to shield myself from the assault that really does exist but to which I was previously blind -- the assault by people intent on getting me (and you) to reach into my pocket or my bank account, take out some money, and give it to them. A great read!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Maddening Perspective, February 23, 2001

By 

Eryn Kalish (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide For A Consumer Society (Critical Studies in Communication & in Cultural Industries) (Paperback)

MARKETING MADNESS, the predecessor of Naomi Klein's more recent NO LOGO, is an easy-to-read, entertaining and well-chronicled testament to the growing misinformation and miscommunication about and surrounding human values. The authors decry those marketing and advertising strategies and techniques that attempt to imbed human value systems into the merchandising and selling of products in increasingly ingenuous ways. While it is certainly a sociopolitical manifesto against hyper-commercialism, MARKETING MADNESS unfortunately demonstrates that these strategies and techniques target their intended audiences all too successfully. Yet, without this book, we might have remained only subconsiously aware or completely unconscious of the tremendous power of consumer narcissism seen through the eyes of global corporatism and one of its most visible representatives. This is a must-read for all marketing, advertising, public relations and mass communications undergrad and graduate students as well as current practitioners in these fields. Perhaps it will help all think twice about the effect that their individual choices have on the world around them.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting take on advertising, January 12, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide For A Consumer Society (Critical Studies in Communication & in Cultural Industries) (Paperback)

Ralph Nader's intro was good. The book assumes that advertising and marketing are all bad. It's up for you to decide.