Books/Hyperconsumption

Subtitle: Corporate Marketing vs. the Planet

Author: Gerard Hastings

The author is a retired professor of marketing. I personally don't believe that corporate marketing is as effective as the author claims it to be.

Introduction

Marketing became necessary due to an abundance created by efficiency of manufacturing processes. Demand had to be stimulated for this increase in supply. Marketing is not just limited to advertising, but has come to dominate all aspects of the product lifecycle. There are two indicators to marketing's success in the last century - the exponential growth of corporations and the woeful state of our planet. Humans are already producing more stuff each year than the combined biomass of the planet. But there are small businesses that are not corporations. Advertisers haven't reduced people into mere consumers yet. The insane notion of perpetual growth on a finite planet needs to be questioned.

Part 1: The Corporate Marketing Machine

Let us begin by understanding the methods and tools of the corporate marketer.

Human beings depend on each other to survive. Business is a manifestation of this interdependence. Corporate monopolies create an imbalance of power in this interaction, with their psychopathic (irresponsible, manipulative, superficial, lacking in empathy, asocial and shameless) pursuit of profit. Their fiduciary responsibility is only to their shareholders. They are part of nobody's community. They use their financial power to lobby governments and evade taxes, thus getting more powerful.

Advertising originally served the purpose of businesses informing people of their goods and services (like a baker putting up a sign about fresh baked bread). In 1928, Edward Barnays, nephew of Sigmund Freud wrote "Propaganda", a book about grabbing power by manipulating public opinion. His ideas were wildly popular with corporations who applied them in their marketing campaigns. Business isn't about just satisfying needs of the people, but every whim and want, even creating new ones. Barnays said that the manipulators of public opinion become the invisible government of the country. There were books to counter this - "Silent Spring", "Small is Beautiful" and "Hidden Persuaders", but they didn't have a similar impact.