Debra Goldman's Consumer Republic

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Would that clients had half the faith in advertising that its critics do.

Since long before The Hidden Persuaders hit the best-seller lists, debunkers of advertising have tried to expose how the industry’s evil geniuses invade consumers’ brains, bending behavior to marketers’ will. And the critics are still at it, even as doubts about advertising’s effectiveness mushroom within the profession.

The latest example came last week in the Web pages of Salon, where an article by Matthew Blakes lee titled “Madison Avenue and Your Brain” claimed to reveal how “new advances in neurosciences are explaining why people just do it, exactly as they’re told to, when that commercial comes on.”



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