The Hidden Persuaders

Although written in 1956, the issues presented still concern us today, probably even more so. We have to be aware of how and why we are being manipulated. The book is very interesting and gives a lot of actual cards of manipulation and how that manipulation affected sales. My big complaint is that the book is horribly edited, full of typos.

A luggage company made a great TV ad back in the 50s, dropping their suitcase from an airplane to show it would survive a crash, and their sales crashed. Research revealed people were angry that they'd die in a crash but their luggage wouldn't, so they avoided that product. A soap company tested the same laundry soap in three boxes. Consumers reported that the soap in yellow boxes cleaned really well, but was harsh and rough on delicate clothes. Soap in the blue box didn't ruin delicate things, but left clothes dingy and not completely clean. Soap in yellow and blue boxes was just right. Lots of examples like this in the book.

I read this book in high school. Our English teacher wanted to teach us critical thinking.

It hardly dives into cultural social engineering - spending most of its time on the dynamics of marketing.For those looking for a title specifically on the history of consumer manipulation - than consider this book 5 stars.For anyone else, it will probably get boring.

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.

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.

If you really want to understand the thinking behind the blizzard of advertising we endure on a daily basis, you may be surprised to learn that there's really nothing new under the sun. Most of the research, insights, psychological manipulation techniques and understanding of what motivates us to buy anything were developed and codified in the 1940s & 50s. This book- from 1958 - is the essential guide to understanding buyer motivations and the lengths major corporations will go to influence us in everyday buying decisions. Big Brother isn't just watching, he's selling, too.

This is a very good book. Its message is timeless. If you want to know how psychology is applied in business use this book. If you want to understand deep selling techniques use this book. If you want to understand the workings of advertising industry, its evolution and sustainance us this book.The Hidden Persuaders portrays how advertisers nah psychologists work undercover to persuade and control the minds of people. It is very sad indeed to hear how advertisers estimate the thinking of the general populace

Reading this some 60 years after it was written provides a fascinating insight into society, particularly American society, at that time. Smoking was openly promoted despite the health scare as filters were believed to prevent harm. Women stayed at home, men were the breadwinners, and the problem of society was how to keep the economy growing. The answer - more sophisticated advertising to encourage people to buy stuff they didn't really need. This was a time when the average American man had fewer than 2 pairs of shoes, and when fewer than 10 million women worked. The housewife, concerned with the home and her husband and children only, had more time on her hands due to freezers washing machines and the like. But how to make people want more, to keep the wheels of manufacturing turning?Ah, make people dissatisfied with what they have - and how to do that was through researching motivation. The author was rather appalled by all this change, and by the idea that people might be encouraged to buy what they din't actually need. And yet today we all are doing that whenever can- fashions, variety, new technologies - ever changing mobile phones, and improving TV pictures, drive us on and on to earn and to spend. And more people live longer more fun lives as a result, without half of the population of the developed world being subservient to the other half. I quite like all that, and am off to buy another book i don't need now...great fun reading this though

It is staggering that a book published in 1957 should remain so relevant, vibrant and important over 5 decades later. This is the story of how the consumer society was created by motivating the public to desire, consume and replace what they probably don't need and didn't know that they wanted. All the techniques described continue to be used to manipulate the public and drive an economy based on consumption, built in obsolescence and fad.This should be essential reading for all young people in secondary school. However, unfortunately, the power of the persuaders is so great and our will, mine included, so weak that even knowing we are being manipulated for other's profit we continue to fall for it over and over again.

A must read if you want the world you see to be reality.Engaging and fluent. Very easy to read and under stand. Leaving the question of if it was like that then, what in gods name is it like now? Part of the answer to that is a lot less easy to see which is a good reason to read this book and not something that appears more up to date.

Every marketing student should have this

This book was mine back in the '60s and then I lost it. I was delighted to be able to re-read this masterpiece on how the American public is manipulated, and cheated, by commercial interestes. What amazed me was the fact that it is just applicable today as it was back in the 50s, when it was writen.