Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy

by Martin Lindstrom Narrated by Dan Woren

Overview

From the bestselling author of Buyology comes a shocking insider's look at how today's global giants conspire to obscure the truth and manipulate our minds, all in service of persuading us to buy.

Marketing visionary Martin Lindstrom has been on the front lines of the branding wars for over twenty years.  Here, he turns the spotlight on his own industry, drawing on all he has witnessed behind closed doors, exposing for the first time the full extent of the psychological tricks and traps that companies devise to win our hard-earned dollars.

Picking up from where Vance Packard's bestselling classic, The Hidden Persuaders, left off more than half-a-century ago, Lindstrom reveals how advertisers and corporations:

• Intentionally target children at an alarmingly young age
• Stoke the flames of public panic and capitalize on paranoia over global contagions, extreme weather events, and food contamination scares.
• Are secretly mining our digital footprints to uncover some of the most intimate details of our private lives
• Purposely adjust their formulas in order to make their products chemically addictive 
• And much, much more.

This searing expose introduces a new class of tricks, techniques, and seductions--the Hidden Persuaders of the 21st century--and shows why they are more insidious and pervasive than ever.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Audio

Even the savviest consumer is susceptible to the often invisible influences of marketing tactics. Brand outreach is so expansive that companies attempt to influence children in utero by exposing mothers to certain odors and jingles. In other words, fetuses are being prepped for brand loyalty before they can even open their mouths and cry. Lindstrom has more than 20 years of corporate marketing expertise, so Brandwashed is filled with fascinating anecdotes and corporate tactics that are at once brilliant and creepy. Dan Woren’s narration is well paced, authoritative, and soothing. This style works during the book’s more didactic passages. But the author’s prose also contains dry humor that doesn’t come across via Woren’s staid reading. While this audio production is slick and professional, it also feels a little lifeless. A Crown Business hardcover. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Lindstrom (coauthor of Buyology) passes off a familiar survey of marketing methods as an exposé. A marketer himself, he shares this primer of modern marketing objectives supposedly as critique, but just as much to crow about their efficacy. Lindstrom is especially proud of his own endeavors, including creating a fake “family” and installing them in a California neighborhood, then charting their influence on the purchasing behavior of their friends and neighbors. The book does include some surprises, particularly the extent to which Internet searches, sophisticated data mining based on credit card use, and loyalty card purchase tracking encourage more purchases. “Being able to predict what the consumer is likely to buy next—and being the first company in line to perfectly target the offering to the consumer in question—is of paramount importance to companies of all stripes,” he writes. Lindstrom makes some astute assessments about marketing techniques that work, noting that the concept of celebrity endorsers has extended to the lowest standard of public recognition, the reality television “star.” His insider’s perspective proves valuable, but his book strains for real critique and sophisticated analysis. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

"I've only read two business books from cover to cover in the last five years: Buyology and Brandwashed. It is no coincidence that Martin Lindstrom is the author of both of those books.  Brandwashed is smart, thought-provoking, and laugh out loud funny."  
-Steven Levitt, Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and bestselling author of Freakonomics

-“If you buy products, you need to read this book. It's really that simple.”
 - Tom Rath, New York Times Bestselling author of StrengthFinder 2.0 and How Full is Your Bucket

"If you want to learn to cut through marketers' phoney health and wellness claims and make smarter decisions  -  about both your body and your money - you need to read this eye-opening book."
-Dr Oz, bestselling author of YOU: The Owner's Manual health series.

“Parents of small children who read this book will cringe (while lunging for the power button on the computer). Savvy marketers will take notes.”
 -Fortune

"A fascinating read. ...Given just how marketing-saturated our culture has gotten, Lindstrom's book argues convincingly that no one should view himself or herself as a rational actor. It's worth thinking about the next time you walk out of Best Buy in a daze, having no idea what the heck you just spent $600 on.
-The Boston Globe.

“I am fascinated and empowered by Martin’s work, both as a business woman and as an individual consumer trying to buy smarter! Martin has changed the way I view brands and consumer behaviors. Very enlightening!"
-Tyra Banks

"A crucial bridge between the unconscious mind, the brand that's marketing to you, and the impulse to buy...it's a wake-up call that you can't afford to ignore!"
— Jean Chatzky, bestselling author of Money 911, Financial Editor NBC Today
 
“I can’t think of a better tour guide to take us into the black box that is brand marketing. I’ll never look at my favorite brands the same way again!”
 - Bill Tancer, bestselling author of Click: What Millions do Online and Why it Matters.
 
“Martin Lindstrom makes the point that marketing today is about connecting with the consumers emotionally in order for them to participate in the brand. Surely he received some of his inspiration from Priceline.com and “the negotiator.” I found his book insightful and informative.”
— William Shatner

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169147704
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/20/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	895,703

Related Subjects

• Business
• Social Sciences
• Medicine & Nursing
• Psychology
• Marketing & Sales
• Media & Communications
• Psychology & Psychotherapy
• Advertisting
• Psychology - Theory, History & Research
• Advertising - General & Miscellaneous
• Advertising - History & Criticism
• Advertising - Technique & Practice
• Social Psychology

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