Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities [Mass Market Paperback]

Erik Larson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995

Some companies gather and sell personal information to assist businesses in their marketing campaigns. It this American business at its finest, or simply a horrible invasion of our privacy? This shocking book will make readers think twice before writing their next check or going to the grocery store.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Larson investigates consumer espionage and invasive marketing practices in this alarming and compelling expose.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Larson, a business journalist, takes a somewhat paranoid look at how market researchers and giant databanks invade our privacy and compile vast amounts of information that could be used against individuals or groups. However, in spite of being studied like bugs, consumers still manage to confound the researchers. While Larson acknowledges that, if marketing campaigns were perfectly aimed, people would receive ads for products that they wanted, and that they might even welcome this attention, the effort to find these customers is viewed as sinister, because of the chance of the wrong people accessing the information. David Duke's candidacy is cited as an example of the danger. Larson also explores and deplores political pollsters' effects on elections. This title might interest both market researchers and the public because of its detailed accounts of ongoing research. It would have appeal in public libraries with business or consumer collections.
- Sue McKimm, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Cleveland
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140233032
• ISBN-13: 978-0140233032
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #470,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Erik Larson is a writer, journalist and novelist. Nominated for a Pulitzer prize for investigative journalism on The Wall Street Journal, he has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State and Johns Hopkins.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Principles of data collection and data use in marketing, November 23, 2008

By 

Noel Poler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities (Mass Market Paperback)

Even though written in the early nineties, amazingly timely today (2008). Certainly technology has evolved and made data gathering exponentially easier, but the principles remain the same. I am a marketeer, so I read it not as the criticism the author intends it but as a primer of all the opportunities and implications related to data collection and aggregation. Erik Larson considers an affront to his privacy getting a sample package from P&G at his house before he is even back from the hospital with his newborn baby, to me it is just excellent data collection and marketing.

I would love to read an updated edition taking into account all the new technology.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book about the excesses of bureaucrats and marketers.., July 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities (Mass Market Paperback)

..who invade and abuse the privacy rights of citizens around the world. Read this well written overview and realize that we can all be victimized by the excessive zeal of those who wish to profit from or control us...

17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I am ashamed to be a Marketing person, June 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities (Mass Market Paperback)

I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. Let me just say that this book is the greatest. It even made me ashamed to be a marketing person! Enough said!