Coercion: Why We Listen to What They Say

by Douglas Rushkoff; Read by William David Griffith

• ISBN13: 9781559275606
• ISBN10: 155927560X
• Edition: Abridged
• Format: Audio CD
• Copyright: 1999-08-14
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Summary

Why do advertisements in fashion magazines make us feel inadequate, and after they do, why do we feel compelled to buy the products advertised? Why are kids tattooing themselves with the Nike "swoosh" icon? How can we feel that we're so aware of the effects of advertising and marketing, yet still succumb to them? Corporations and consumers are in a coercive arms race. Every effort we make to regain authority over our actions is met by an even greater effort to usurp it.

In Coercion, Douglas Rushkoff, hailed by New Perspectives Quarterly as the "brilliant heir to Marshall McLuhan, " picks up where Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders left off. He details the many coercive sales tactics used by companies and how we can empower ourselves to counteract them. Rushkoff is in a unique position to guide us through these hazardous societal forces. For years he has championed the new media, the Internet, and the liberating forces of interactive technology. Now he examines the process through which such innovations are being co-opted by the powers that be. Rushkoff's m