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The process of producing goods and services is relatively easy to recognize as socially beneficial. But television ads? Telemarketers? Jingles? Junk mail? It is popular to view these commercial activities as inherently wasteful or manipulative, marginally informative or entertaining, at best. In
Selling the Dream, John Hood takes the provocative stand that advertising images and sales pitches are actually part of the goods and services themselves, delivering an essential component of the consumer's experience. As such, they are inextricably linked to the basic tenets of the free-market system, and, in the boldest of terms, Hood argues that commercial communication is morally consistent with the principles of our democratic society, including freedom of choice, competition, and innovation. Tracing the history of advertising from Ancient Roman times to the present, he offers a colorful account of advertising in its cultural context and addresses such controversial issues as the promotion of harmful and immoral products (such as alcohol and tobacco), marketing to children, the role of advertising in service industries such as health care and education, and the impact of the Internet and other new media on the conduct of commerce. In the process, he offers a compelling perspective on advertising and its essential role in business, communication, and popular culture.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction
The Birth of Advertising and Commercial Culture
A Carnival of Conspicuous Consumption
Broadcasting Revolution, Advertising Evolution
The New Economics and Science of Advertising
Living the Commercial Life
Health Claims and the Problem of Fraud
Advertising and the Consuming Child
The Economics and Ethics of Selling Sin
Conclusion
Notes
Index
About the author
John Hood is President of the John Locke Foundation, a public policy think tank based in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he also serves as publisher of the foundation's monthly newspaper, the Carolina Journal. A professional writer whose articles have appeared in such publications as The New Republic, National Review, Reason, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, he is the author of Investor Politics and The Heroic Enterprise.
Summary
A colorful history of advertising that makes the case for its necessity in a free-market society.
