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As a freelance marketing professional who fell into this line of work by habitually deconstructing print & television advertising, I can only laugh at the haughty indignation of people who deny they are being manipulated by advertising. Those who truly believe they are immune to persuasion are the biggest suckers on the planet.
Remove commerce from American "culture" and what remains wouldn't fill a thimble. Naysayers can invoke ideals such as liberty and freedom all they like, but such hollow assertions instantly collapse when one reflects on our collective failure to actually fight for those principles on the street. The systematic dismantling of The U.S. Constitution was carried out in broad daylight by those sworn to protect it, and, despite the election year rhetoric, few care still.
There's a reason why commercial boycotts no longer work: Because consumerism - at long last - has become our sole common denominator.
Ideals are, like, so Sixties.
And we can't have that.
