Vance Packard (1914–1996)

The US economy, and the continued happiness and prosperity of its citizens, rely almost completely on the promotion of wasteful consumption by the ad-men, the corporate executives, and the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses mentality of the super-size-me American Dream. Or so goes the narrative of leaders of the mid-century US economy that comes under the razor-sharp analysis of Vance Packard. It runs us through the consumption patterns of its citizens, and the ongoing foot-on-the-accelerator show more efforts of advertising industry to make turnover of goods ever faster.
Planned obsolescence of goods as a business model is something difficult to justify either morally (mainly in terms of its damage to the environment), or to the consumer on a value-for-money basis (so this relies on them not fully realizing what’s happening). Yet the number of types of obsolescence or encouraged waste (Packard counts nine) employed by the big corporations to boost spending, is staggering, and illustrated in concise yet bountiful detail here. Let me run through these briefly:
1. Encouraging people to buy more of everything (examples – two exhausts on a car that needs one, two cars to a household that needs one, his and hers versions of an item that they could share, two-household homes (with two of every appliance of course),
2. The throw-away spirit (fast-fashion, planned obsolescence of style, single-use or disposable items, non-recyclable food packing etc, goods cheaper to replace than repair)
3. Planned obsolescence (goods designed to break just after expired warranty)
4. Planned obsolescence of desirability (styling cycles)
5. Prevention of economical repair (often by design)
6. Planned chaos
7. Instant money/cash loans (to oil the wheels of spending)
8. Hedonism for the masses (everyone expects more out of life, erosion of spartan/protestant ideals)
9. Proliferation of people (encouragement of reproduction)

The only major things that have changed since this book was written are the exact monetary figures (they’ve only got bigger), that what was said about the US now applies to most of the developed world, and that a proportion of more educated citizens are railing against the wasteful behaviour described herein. This book was ahead of its time in calling out the excesses that were draining the world of its non-renewable resources, and now we are in the metaphorical hangover stage..
Read this. Don't be fooled! show less

Now it is somewhat dated. The original was, after all, published in 1957; the edition I read had an epilogue and introduction from 1981, updating things slightly. Still a lot of the general comments and the large picture rings a lot of warning bells in my skull. I actually found it more chilling than any horror book I've read.
This looks at how we are sold things, how things are packaged to attract and to encourage us to enter into a unthinking mode of living. Allowing the advertising to show more wash us up on the aisles of shops reaching for foods and goods that we will later bin. You can see how the advertising machine both misjudges and adapts to other societies.

It warns us that we need to stop accepting and be active consumers, thinking about the products we're sold and whether or not we need them or if they are of any real use to us nutritionally or otherwise. However as this book is over 50 years old and we're still behaving in the same ways we also need to ask if the general public really want to learn the lessons in this book, but that's where it gets scary. show less

Vance Packard’s “The Hidden Persuaders” presents an overview of the psychological research done by the advertising industry, which it uses to influence us, often subconsciously, to think we want their products.
This trend for in-depth psychological research, as opposed to more traditional market research and statistical analysis, has been growing since the 1940s. It has influenced the bulk of society to a vast degree in creating false wants and has expanded the economy so that show more products are not merely sold to fulfil demands, but demands are created to sell products. It has done this in a way that traditional marketing based on the assumption that the consumer was a rational entity could not, by leveraging the subconscious. Much of the research that has gone into this is quite clever and interesting to read about.
This is a fascinating volume not merely from the point of view of understanding human nature and the unexpected psychological factors behind common purchasing decisions, but also because of the prevalence of advertising and consumerism and the need to be on guard against the ubiquitous manipulations of companies trying to gain the upper hand. Recommended reading for anyone with an interest in psychology, business, or society. show less

It is interesting that this book can still easily be found, and I am thankful for that. American society is behaving pretty normally for the condition of being the foremost power in the world, economically and culturally. In recent times, the French, British and Americans have all made a stab at being the center of the "Universe", and sadly a good many details of its process still resemble the portrait drawn by this observer from the 1950's.