Foreword by Morgan Spurlock
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:
• New findings that reveal how advertisers and marketers intentionally target children at an alarmingly young age – starting when they are still in the womb!
• Shocking results of an fMRI study which uncovered what heterosexual men really think about when they see sexually provocative advertising (hint: it isn’t their girlfriends).
• How marketers and retailers stoke the flames of public panic and capitalize on paranoia over global contagions, extreme weather events, and food contamination scares.
• The first ever neuroscientific evidence proving how addicted we all are to our iPhones and our Blackberry’s (and the shocking reality of cell phone addiction - it can be harder to shake than addictions to drugs and alcohol).
• How companies of all stripes are secretly mining our digital footprints to uncover some of the most intimate details of our private lives, then using that information to target us with ads and offers ‘perfectly tailored’ to our psychological profiles.
• How certain companies, like the maker of one popular lip balm, purposely adjust their formulas in order to make their products chemically addictive.
• What a 3-month long guerilla marketing experiment, conducted specifically for this book, tells us about the most powerful hidden persuader of them all.
• 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.
Review
"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
About the Author
MARTIN LINDSTROM, was voted one of the World's 100 Most Influential people of 2009 by Time magazine. Among the globe's foremost marketers - now turned consumer advocate - Lindstrom has advised top executives at companies such as McDonald's Corporation, Procter & Gamble, and Microsoft. His most recent book, Buyology, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller and voted "Pick of the Year" by USA Today. He is also chairman and co-founder of Buyology Inc
