Insecurity for sale
The most effective advertisements tap into our deepest insecurities. Selling consumer goods is like hotwiring a car: when an ad connects an insecurity to a felt need, sales spark. We will buy if marketers can persuade us that their products will alleviate our fears, and make us more appealing in the eyes of others. It’s a brilliant marketing model born in the 1920s. During that roaring decade, a bustling new economy drove the advertising revolution. Between 1923 and 1929, consumable spending shot up 25% in the States. With new cash stimulating the market, more and more products competitively grabbed for the attention (and wallets) of new consumers, who now found themselves increasingly migrating from rural life into cities. With the booming cashflow, specialized ad agencies put together persuasive ad campaigns from major metropolitan centers. The story of this advertising revolution is told by Tim Wu , a professor at Columbia Law School , in his excellent new book, The Atte