My review of the book: "Mind Programming" by Eldon Taylor.
The positive:
There are some good points made about persuasive techniques. The book also has a CD, I happen to believe in the effectiveness of subliminal methods and this CD is a genuine subliminal. And if you don't believe in such technology it is at least a good relaxation CD because of the fine soothing music.
The negative:
The book is on final analysis , a sales pitch for this guy's products. He continually refers to his other books, CDs and his web site. Much of his book, in fact 30% of it, is merely supporting arguments for his subliminal CD technology which he sells at $90 AUD EACH!
As said above he mentions various persuasive techiques, however much of it is not original and the discussion of these techniques are too brief and thin. There are far better books on these methods and principles, which are deeper and richer in their discussion. I also suspect he uses the same techniques that he describes to sell his book for example: the social proof technique, where you employ numerous others to support your product to give it credibility and persuade others to purchase it. Additionally I have a strong suspicion about the favorable reviews for his book at Amazon.
I also suspect some of his references such as the : advertising training manual, is a fabrication, created to sell his message. The book also has a lot of loony references such as HARRP mind control technology and the Illuminati .For example: he mentions Edgar Cayce, who espoused that eating meat conveys negative emotions to the human and that abstaining from meat consumption leads to an increase in psychic abilities.
What rubbish.
Final summation: a book by a greed head, which is not much more that an advertisement for his overpriced CDs and his books. It has only one good point compared to it's competition, it's CD.
Addition:
The: " THE TOP SECRET ADVERTISING TRAINING MANUAL" is a fake, in my opinion. First of all Taylor states that this is from a: "VERY PRESTIGIOUS ADVERTISING COMPANY". Why does Taylor not name it, because it is probably a fraud.
The reasoning why I think this is the case, the language used is way over the top as mentioned above in another review. I came to this opinion as well, but I did not bother to mention it in my initial review. However, there are other reasons I suspect that this is a fabrication, very logical reasons.
Brand loyalty and customer goodwill are essential and critical factors for the success of a company and it's products. Now the techniques of this training course would have been exposed long ago to the media by students and SMART CONSUMERS, upset and disgusted by the methods employed. This would have revealed this company and the companies associated with it. This would kill this advertising agency.
Why?, because most consumers would be repulsed by the means used, this would destroy customer goodwill for the client companies' products and there would be considerable loss in sales. Thus to maintain this goodwill , which takes years and years of hard work to build, other companies would drop this agency like a stone, because of fear of guilt by association even if they did not employ such methods.
Such methods as described in the manual would be seen as a loser by smart advertising executives, because they would backfire. And why employ them when traditional methods of advertising work just fine, just ask Coke and Mc Donald's.
For example, could you imagine the field day the media would have with a CEO who stated the following: "The true beauty of this is that the consumer pays to be "brain washed," while we corporate fat cats laugh all the way to the bank." Now would any SMART executive write such nonsense IN A TRAINING MANUAL, knowing of this possibility. Plus such a provocative statements would surely provoke some of the more honest and moralistic students?
And this a marked give away that Taylor probably wrote it. See Taylor in my opinion has no subtlety in his manipulative method. I suspect he overuses the 'SOCIAL PROOF TECHIQUE METHOD" here and at his site. Way too many testimonies given at his web site, for instance. There are FAR to many references to his other books in this one, excessively so. And the excessively convoluted nature of the psycho sexual subliminal messages as described in the manual and the OVER THE TOP comments contained in it, are a dead giveaway, in my opinion. I suspect Taylor was rubbing his hands while he was writing this manual, self-congratulating himself on how smart and DEVIOUS he is, and if this is the case he over did it, it is a very crude display of manipulation, poorly done.
Someone after my review wrote this: "It's a MUST have. If you're one who's searching for the TRUTH, this book is a great place to start. TELL A FRIEND"
I have a GREAT SUSPICION, that Taylor.... a man of questionable intregrity, is up to his old tricks.
BUYER BEWARE!