Brandwashed
Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy
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3.3 • 104 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of Buyology comes a shocking insider’s look at how today’s global giants conspire to obscure the truth and manipulate our minds, all in service of persuading us to buy.
Marketing visionary Martin Lindstrom has been on the front lines of the branding wars for over twenty years. Here, he turns the spotlight on his own industry, drawing on all he has witnessed behind closed doors, exposing for the first time the full extent of the psychological tricks and traps that companies devise to win our hard-earned dollars.
Picking up from where Vance Packard's bestselling classic, The Hidden Persuaders, left off more than half-a-century ago, Lindstrom reveals how advertisers and corporations:
• Intentionally target children at an alarmingly young age
• Stoke the flames of public panic and capitalize on paranoia over global contagions, extreme weather events, and food contamination scares.
• Are secretly mining our digital footprints to uncover some of the most intimate details of our private lives
• Purposely adjust their formulas in order to make their products chemically addictive
• And much, much more.
This searing expose introduces a new class of tricks, techniques, and seductions--the Hidden Persuaders of the 21st century--and shows why they are more insidious and pervasive than ever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lindstrom (coauthor of Buyology) passes off a familiar survey of marketing methods as an expos . A marketer himself, he shares this primer of modern marketing objectives supposedly as critique, but just as much to crow about their efficacy. Lindstrom is especially proud of his own endeavors, including creating a fake "family" and installing them in a California neighborhood, then charting their influence on the purchasing behavior of their friends and neighbors. The book does include some surprises, particularly the extent to which Internet searches, sophisticated data mining based on credit card use, and loyalty card purchase tracking encourage more purchases. "Being able to predict what the consumer is likely to buy next and being the first company in line to perfectly target the offering to the consumer in question is of paramount importance to companies of all stripes," he writes. Lindstrom makes some astute assessments about marketing techniques that work, noting that the concept of celebrity endorsers has extended to the lowest standard of public recognition, the reality television "star." His insider's perspective proves valuable, but his book strains for real critique and sophisticated analysis.
Customer Reviews
Some Interesting Information
Mostly well-known facts, with some interesting new information sprinkled in.
Simply Amazing!!!!
I've always been interested in marketing, but never pursued a career in it. After reading this book, my passion for marketing has intensified. I learned soooooo much from this book. I couldn't put it down! I hate to say it, but I'm "brandwashed" on a number of products (including this book). I've already recommended it to all of my family, friends, and co-workers. This book will open your eyes and you'll never look at a tv commercial, grocery store, retail store, or website the same again. I promise!!!
Can we get entire chapters one 1 study?
Although all of his books are great, I feel like I’m not retaining a lot of the information by the time the book is over because within one chapter he will mention 8 or 9 studies relating to the topic. A lot of them are so interesting that I want them expounded upon rather than thrown in as some little random tidbit of information.