Book: We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind

[Guest guest]

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 09:56:12 -0700

We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind

" BuzzFlash " <buzzflash

 

We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind by Martin Howard

 

 

BuzzFlash.com Recommendation

 

The American economic engine (teetering as it is) is built upon the

most fundamental assumption: you can create a demand economy for a

product by convincing people to buy things that they don't need.

Marketing and advertising are the vehicles for accomplishing this

task, psychologically inducing us into desires and impressions that

would otherwise never occur to us.

 

" We Know What You Want " is a handbook that details tactics that

influence us in five major arenas: the retail zone, the personal zone,

the event zone, the media zone, and the virtual zone. This is not in

anyway an academic treatise. To the contrary, it is a vibrantly

designed, practical introduction to how we are psychologically

influenced as a result of intentional strategic design.

 

The two-page section (104-5) on how to detect propaganda is worth the

book itself. It captures the Rovian manipulation of public opinion in

seven short paragraphs.

 

In fact, reading through " We Know What You Want " provides you with an

extremely informative understanding of how the right wing of the

Republican Party has " seduced " America through a variety of marketing,

advertising and public relations techniques. The book, we should note,

is not about Bush or politics per se, but the extreme wing of the

Republican Party has mastered these " skills " on the political level.

So, you read through many of the techniques with a " Oh, that's exactly

what the Busheviks do " sort of recognition.

 

The reason that control of the media is so important to the Busheviks

is that they know (as did Stalin and Hitler) that manipulation of

public thought is key to achieving their secretive, self-serving goals.

 

They are masters of the bait and switch, but more importantly they are

masters of insinuating psychological messaging into their propaganda.

While the Democrats react to public perception (which many Democratic

leaders mistakenly believe is a fixed rather than a moving target),

the Republican corporate advertising, marketing and public relations

experts tirelessly work to shape public opinion. It is probably the

only thing that they do well, besides wrecking a wonderful democracy.

 

This is a book that is informative, thought-provoking and actually fun

to read through, as odd as it may sound. " We Know What You Want " knows

that this is a visual age, so the pages often jump out at you with

provocative visuals and unconventional design.

 

It's a neat little book that leaves you realizing how much we are

controlled by the media through marketing, advertising and public

relations -- and that for the Busheviks the media is indeed the message.

 

The political leaders who can control messaging through the media are

the ones who control the nation. They know it works. As " We Know What

You Want " demonstrates, Americans are the great " messaging " guinea

pigs of the world.

 

About the Author | " We Know What You Want " | back to top

 

Martin Howard has spent over fifteen years in the marketing field with

more than ten of them in advertising agencies. He has consulted to a

range of organizations in the area of communications and design.

 

We Know What You Want is Martin Howard's first book. It was inspired

by the book Coercion, by Douglas Rushkoff.

 

While witnessing the decline of the traditional advertising agency he

became interested in emerging forms of communication and stumbled upon

the writings of Marshall McCluhan and others, who charted the profound

but underestimated impact of electronic media. Now a strong advocate

for media literacy, his interest is in making these theories

accessible to average consumers and students.

 

His aim in this project is to encourage individuals to assess their

own media environment and to reclaim their free will.

 

Details | " We Know What You Want " | back to top

 

# Paperback: 191 pages

# Publisher: The Disinformation Company

# Language: English

# ISBN: 1932857052

 

Order " We Know What You Want " today and Help Keep BuzzFlash Buzz'n.

 

Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash.com