

Ask HN:  Is marketing essentially using brainwashing to propagate a meme? - amichail

And if so, shouldn't rational thinkers speak out against the dangers of marketing?<p>Why do atheists speak out against the dangers of the "God virus" but not against the dangers of marketing?
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jacquesm
Viral marketing is, 'regular' marketing can be divided in to two branches, one
where people are informed about a product and left to draw their own
conclusions, and another - much less ethical one - where marketing is used a
means of influencing decisions people make in general.

The latter I have a real problem with.

SwellJoe has already posted Bill Hicks, let me contribute this little gem:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi63rXnuWbw>

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gruseom
Have you seen Adam Curtis' documentary "Century of the Self"? If not, I'm
pretty sure you would like it. I'm only partway through, but it's already
filled in a number of blanks for me as to how we got where we are. (Edit: to
be specific, the stuff in part 1 about Edward Bernays and the psychoanalytic
roots of modern PR is riveting.)

I mention it because your distinction between two types of marketing is
fundamental to the series, which is the story of how the second type was
discovered and triumphed over the first.

[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151&...](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151&hl=en#)

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jacquesm
I haven't but I definitely will. Thanks for the link.

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SwellJoe
Bill Hicks had something to say on the subject:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo>

