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In 1983, Reese's Pieces made their debut on the silver screen, gobbled up by that lovable alien ET, and sales of the candy shot up instantly by 66 percent. Reebok has sponsored the U.S. Olympic team—and the Russian team, as well! The British Boy Scouts sell space on their merit badges to advertisers.Michael Jacobson, founder of the Washington, D.C.–based watchdog group, Center for the Study of Commercialism (CSC), and Laurie Ann Mazur have produced the book on marketing mania in the United States and the deleterious effects it is having on our ailing culture. Beyond documenting the “unholy alliance” between corporations and Hollywood, the authors take up such disquieting issues as how marketers turn citizens into consumers, the quiet battle between private consumption and social welfare, ads that kill (alcohol and tobacco), the litter of billboards, stealth advertising, corporate interference with public television, the commercialization of Christmas, sex in advertising, marketing in our public schools, and the selling of social issues.This highly readable book interlocks fascinating illustrations with hard statistics and analysis drawn from years of research conducted under the aegis of the CSC. The result is a powerfully revealing book that informs, astounds, enrages, and instructs. It is a primer on the social ills of commercialism gone rampant, a call to action for all concerned citizens. As the authors contend, this book “documents the problem, analyzes its effects, and empowers the reader by offering ‘what you can do' suggestions for personal action.”
