Sustain-Ability?   /   Summer 2012   /    Short Takes

Buyology

With his  1928  book Propaganda, edward Bernays, the legendary adman and father of  public relations, invented  a genre.  He informed his  readers: “we are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested,  largely by men we have never heard of”  (37). The purpose of  his  book was to explain the “mechanism” of  control (45). Since then we have had a host of other books, each explaining how, below the level of awareness, our habits, purchasing decisions, and thought processes are being shaped by master manipulators.

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