Advertising in a Consumer Society

Archive Report

Advertising and Consumer Protection

The controversy over cigarette advertising, now headed for a showdown in Congress, points to a lack of consensus on how advertising in general should function in what is now being called a consumer society. That advertising is a central feature of such a society is a foregone conclusion. Few would seek its abolition, for advertising is so tightly locked into the country's complex marketing systems and so deeply implanted in the expectations of the people that it could not be dislodged without devastating effect on the economy, to say nothing of the national psyche. But though most Americans are comfortably attuned to the ubiquitous presence of advertising in their daily lives, they tend to be cynical about its operations.

The advertising industry ...

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