The hidden persuaders
by Vance Packard · first published 1957
58% recommend38% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Early, in-depth look at 1950s advertising and motivational research, showing how subconscious cues are used to sell and persuade. Suits anyone who wants to spot marketing tricks still in use today.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
An account of the motivation research people, the advertising agency psychologists who analyze consumer desires and find out how to make people buy the things the agencies are paid to promote. Personalities, techniques, symbols, and approaches are discussed and some of the leading ad psychologists are interviewed.
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The hidden persuaders by Vance Packard I read this book as a kid, it changed how I view the world and I've never forgotten it's lessons. It shows how the ad world is working hard to persuade you. It convinced me to always…
on “Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?” ↗…part on their website where they said the firm uses 'journalism' to generate publicity for their clients. I've mentioned on here before but the best book I read in grade school was Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders about how PR and advertising people manipulate public opinion. Sorry to say this fifty year old book is out of print, check your library and you won't be sorry.
on “The Secret Ingredient In Your Orange Juice” ↗…Greene, Robert (1998) 48 Laws of Power Kahneman, Daniel (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow Munger, Charles (1995) 'Psychology of Human Misjudgment', speech at Harvard, unpublished Packard, Vance (1957) Hidden Persuaders Patterson et al. (2012) Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, 2E Sun Tzu (ca. 400 BCE) Art of War INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / STATISTICS Bowden, Mark (2011) Worm: First Digital…
on “Ask HN: Are there any books that inspire or highly influence the way you work?” ↗…Vladimir - Lolita Norman, Howard - Bird Artist, The Norris, Frank - McTeague O’Hara, Frank - Selected Poems Orwell, George - 1984 Orwell, George - Inside The Whale And Other Essays Packard, Vance - Hidden Persuaders, The Pagels, Elaine - Gnostic Gospels, The Paglia, Camille - Sexual Personae: Art And Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson Petry, Ann - Street, The di Pirajno, Alberto Denti - A Grave For A…
on “David Bowie’s Top 100 Books (2013)” ↗…companies that have spent years figuring out how to get you to spend money on stuff. They make the experience of buying stuff so pleasant that "shopping" becomes a leisure activity." Vance Packard's 'The Hidden Persuaders' was one of the earliest books to deal with this topic in depth. It's scary how they understand us better than ourselves. Book URL:http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Persuaders-Vance-Packard/dp/067...
on “Stuff - Paul Graham” ↗Also, a book written by Vance Packard at the height of 1950s advertising called "The Hidden Persuaders", if you can find a copy. All about 'motivational research' and how subconscious cues can be used to sell and persuade. Very interesting -- for example, how some customers liked extremely-strong-smelling…
on “Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising” ↗Ymmv but I got a good grip on gimmicks from The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard Also I can't emphasize this enough INSIDE SECRETS OF SELLING (FIND A NEED AND FILL IT) https://archive.org/details/insidesecretsofs00ward
on “Ask HN: Best books or videos to get better at sales?” ↗Much of it had to do with adaptation of advertising to television in the 1960s. That's where "the youth culture" started. "The Hidden Persuaders" - Vance Packard ISBN-13: 978-0978843106 is a good start. He's a bit crazy but it's a good read.
on “The Insults of Age” ↗…services. The prior awareness didn't save them from faling into the same pit: http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html Niel Postman. Technopoly and Amusing Ourselves to Death. Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway, Merchants of Doubt looks at influencing on a much broader basis. Banksy's art is, in many regards, a direct refutation of advertising. The letter attributed to him on…
on “Introducing the Invisible reCAPTCHA” ↗I'll recommend a book published in 1957 The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard. Although some of the examples are dated, it takes you through a stream of consciousness about how to "stoke the hivemind" Pay particular attention to Packard's 8 hidden needs and factor…
on “The Highest-Grossing Display Ads on the Web” ↗_The Hidden Persuaders_ (Vance Packard, 1959) https://amzn.com/dp/B006NV977W was recommended elsewhere today. This nearly-as-ancient classic is at least an order of magnitude less mentioned but provides more depth applicable…
on “Yes, but what does your startup do?” ↗Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders from 1957 is well worth a look about how advertising was seen as far back as the 1950s. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3730.The_Hidden_Persuade...
on “Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Google over 'toxic content'” ↗One that I haven't seen mentioned is "The hidden persuaders" by Vance Packard. It's old and some say it's exaggerated in parts, but some of the mechanisms and tricks explained are everywhere. We swim in a sea of marketing. Practical effect: you'll start seeing…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗Very much enjoyed this, very prescient https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Persuaders-Vance-Packard/dp/09...
on “Freud's nephew and the origins of public relations (2009)” ↗Ah, thank you for the clarification, I'm interested in reading up. Your description reminds me a lot of a book called "The Hidden Persuaders" by Vance Packard, which I recommend as a distinctly uncomfortable read in the same vein.
on “Trump wins presidency for second time” ↗