The Hidden Persuaders

"The Hidden Persuaders" by Vance Packard: A Review

In this book, Vance Packard conducts an investigation into advertising and seeks to expose the psychological techniques and thinking behind this "manipulation of the public". The book mainly deals with the American form of advertising yet much of his comment is still pertinent elsewhere.

One chapter which is particularly interesting concerns manipulation of the desire of people to achieve a greater status in society. In the case of motor cars, what the advertisers did was to find what sort of cars made good status symbols and then these were manufactured and advertised, selling well because they had seized upon a very common "Achilles heel".

It appeared to the promoters that small cars were poor sellers. So they investigated. When asked why they did not like small cars, many people came up with excuses - for instance, that driving a small car was not as safe as driving a large one.

However, deeper probing discovered that this was just a rationale: "What really worried them about small cars was that the cars might make them look small in the eyes of their neighbours.. The images which came into the people's minds were of being jolted, tense, cramped, 'and personally small and inferior'". Facing such evidence, the marketers "stepped up their emphasis on bigness" and so took advantage of this craving of the buyer for increased social prestige. But who bought the small cars? It emerged that "most of the small cars are sold to people who already have a big car and so perhaps can safely appear in a small one while knocking about."

Another factor which seems to defy logic was the price tag. It was found that the higher the price paid for a car, the more status it conferred. As Packard states: It could not really be a matter of more room, or power or ride and readability. It seems that people are buying higher priced cars just to prove that they can afford them." So by raising prices, the marketers raised sales! The third factor was a tried and tested one: testimonials. Here the status of the object is linked in the public mind with "personages of indisputably high status who invite the rest of us to join them in enjoying the product." It might be thought that people are somewhat cynical about this form of advertising, but it still proves highly successful - as not only the treatment of cars, but also coffee, fitted kitchens, drinks and other commodities has proven. Why should this be so? One reason which Packard gives is "many people express scepticism about testimonials but although people consciously deny being impressed by testimonials "there is a strong suspicion that unconsciously they are impressed with them."

Packer ends this section on a cautionary note, quoting economist Robert Lekachman who comments: "We can only guess at the tensions and anxieties generated by this relentless pursuit of the emblems of success in our society, and shudder to think at what it might give rise to during an economic setback. "

This is a well-researched and interesting book which should certainly give rise to questions in the mind of the reader: How effective is such manipulation? More important, is it right that advertisers should sell by subterfuge and deceit? What sort of society will this create?