Can't Buy My Love - How Advertising Changes The Way We Think and Feel
Can't Buy My Love - How Advertising Changes The Way We Think and Feel
Jean Kilbourne
Many advertisements these days make us feel as if we have an intimate, even passionate relationship with a product. But as Kilbourne points out in this fascinating and shocking expose, the dreamlike promise of advertising always leaves us hungry for more. We can never be satisfied, because the products we love cannot love us back. – blurb
“Cumulatively they create a climate of cynicism and alienation that is poisonous to relationships. Many people end up feeling romantic about material objects yet deeply cynical about other human beings. In a society in which one of two marriages ends in divorce, we are offered constancy through our products. As one ad says, “Some people need only one man. Or one woman. Or one watch.” Okay, so we can’t be monogamous – at least we can be faithful to our watches. Because of the pervasiveness of this kind of advertising, we learn from childhood that it is safer to make a commitment to a product than to a person, far easier to be loyal to a brand.”
