ABSTRACT

Diving deep into the world of corporate marketing, this incisive and eye-opening work shows how, in the hands of the corporation, business has become manipulative, divisive and disastrously at odds with the needs of the natural world. It calls on us to rethink and rebel.

The corporate marketing blitz is driven by a simple economic truth: profits depend on demand always exceeding supply. A multi-billion-dollar global industry has therefore been created with the sole aim of turning us into devout consumers. Gerard Hastings invites us to explore alternatives to a system that is threatening our survival. He explores what it is to be human, how marketing can be used to do good rather than harm and the potential of alternative models that empower us to be citizens, not just consumers.

Professionals and students in the business, marketing, public health, environmental and political sectors – as well as concerned citizens who know that business as usual is not an option – will value this accessible guide to what is going wrong with our current business models and how these failings can be addressed.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

Human Beings Not Customers

part I|74 pages

The Corporate Marketing Machine

chapter Chapter 1|11 pages

Original Sin

The Spawning of Corporate Marketing

chapter Chapter 2|13 pages

Advertising and the Art of Organised Lying

chapter Chapter 3|11 pages

The Machinery of Marketing

chapter Chapter 4|12 pages

Grooming the Next Generation

chapter Chapter 5|13 pages

Surveillance Capitalism

chapter Chapter 6|12 pages

Marketing, Power, and the Demise of Democracy

part II|36 pages

We Shall Overcome

chapter Chapter 7|10 pages

Deep in My Heart

chapter Chapter 8|14 pages

We'll Walk Hand in Hand

chapter Chapter 9|10 pages

The Whole Wide World Around