The Selling of Everything

Citing a recent poll which found 65% of respondents feel "constantly bombarded with too much" advertising and 61% think marketing is "out of control," Commercial Alert's director writes: "The main reason, I suspect, is that the [marketing] industry abides no limits or boundaries... [the] implicit message is a total lack of respect for our time, our privacy, our attention, our peace of mind, and not least for our concerns about our kids." Two examples: ads on magazine spines and "a growing number of marketers [who] want to persuade the nation's print magazines to open the text of their editorial pages to product placements." With pharmaceutical marketing budgets up 21% last year, drug makers are using "more aggressive marketing tactics," according to a Young & Rubicam Advertising executive.