Coercion: Why We Listen to What “They” Say by Douglas Rushkoff (PDF)

Description

Noted media pundit and author of Playing the Future Douglas Rushkoff gives a devastating critique of the influence techniques behind our culture of rampant consumerism. With a skilled analysis of how experts in the fields of marketing, advertising, retail atmospherics, and hand-selling attempt to take away our ability to make rational decisions, Rushkoff delivers a bracing account of media ecology today, consumerism in America, and why we buy what we buy, helping us recognize when we’re being treated like consumers instead of human beings.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “With immense force and inimitable style, Douglas Rushkoff takes us on an engaging, frightening, and oddly exhilarating journey into the boardrooms where compliance professionals hone their skills. “Coercion” is destined to be remembered as a watershed in the battle between the marketing industry and the public it means to manipulate.” -“Wired ” “An important book… a clear warning to Americans who are unaware of the power of words to intentionally mislead the reader, listener, or viewer. Read this book, and nobody gets hurt.” -Senator Bob Kerrey “A scathing critique that extends far beyond cyberspace in scope.” -“Publishers Weekly” “The most disturbing book of the year… Be careful where you log on.” -“The New York Post” “Unmasks a culture of hype and deception.” -“Vibe””The most disturbing book of the year…Be careful where you log on”.– New York Post About the Author Douglas Ruskoff’s previous books–including Cyberia and Media Virus–have been translated into thirteen languages. He is the Technology and Culture Consultant to the United Nations Commission on World Culture and a regular consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and he writes a bi-weekly column for the New York Times syndicate. He teaches at the Esalen Institute and Banff Center for the Arts, and will be adjunct professor of Media Sociology at New York University in 1999. He lives in New York City.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐In our consumer driven market no effort is spared to acquire as much of everyone’s “disposable income” as possible. Every aspect of consumer behavior is studied and strategies are created to maximize sales and consumption. Within the field of Marketing everything is considered a viable option to encourage consumption and the objective is to bypass the consumer’s good judgement and trick them into purchasing items by tampering with the very means humans use to make informed decisions.For example department stores and Malls are designed with a confusing layouts, strategically placed mirrors, and non-intuitive exit paths to keep you in the store longer maximizing your exposure to products, increasing the chance the store will make a sale. These layouts are not only deliberate, but a great deal of research is at the root of them aiming to maximize consumer purchases and foil the natural defenses of the consumer so he will no longer act in his own best interests but those of the proprietor.The U.S. government and politicians are also aware of this science and use specific forms of communication to deliberately mislead and manipulate the voting populous, to their detriment, while avoiding educating them that such tactics exist. This omission from the public education system is deliberate as strategies to deal with and combat predatory marketing would also reduce the politician’s ability to manipulate sentiment and reduce their collective political power.Another among these powerful tactics include such mind and life altering techniques as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) which is a field of psychology created to help alter the thought process and emotional state of the mentally ill, those with psychiatric disorders, as well as those trying to make changes in their lives as a way to change the way people think and feel about things. In the hands of an altruistic Psychotherapist trying to help a patient overcome psychiatric disorders it’s a powerful tool for good, but the field of Marketing has widely embraced it as a way to manipulate consumer’s thoughts and emotions about their products to produce sales. While NLP was invented in 1975 and enjoys wide use in the field it is obscure outside of Marketing and psychotherapy, and dismissed far too easily as the conception of it’s effects seem almost magical. Most outside the field reject the notion that their thoughts and emotions can be altered by the carefully chosen words of others out of hand, and while the idea does seem almost seems magical, the technique produces tangible results. Unfortunately those results are mostly in sales rather than easing human suffering.Coercion details several levels of well known and obscure methods of deceptive marketing that prey on the manner in which the human brain functions to create a sale opportunity. A short list would include mimicry, repetition, false senses of endorsement, false social requirements, blatant misrepresentations of facts & performance, and all manner of techniques to convince the target unwittingly or without their consent to perpetuate consumption. Douglas goes on to describe how Marketers have reclaimed what he initially felt were the liberated tools of mass communication created by the internet (Blogs, Twitter, Youtube, E-mail, forums, and viral videos)into just another medium for creating a sale, and his unwitting involvement in marketing’s use of those tools.The reading level is very accessible, approximately a 10th grade level, the content is rich and there are plenty of relatable examples throughout. This is one of two modern books I feel is indispensable in a personal library and always have on hand extra copies to loan or give to others. It’s content is so important that I feel morally obligated to share it with those who are not content to be blissfully unaware of the mental warfare being waged against them on a daily basis. The other book being Eric Hoffer’s

⭐. While that book is a very inaccessible and difficult read by a non-writer Coercion is a well written book that can be easily read without outside assistance though both, in my opinion, should be required reading for modern high school students.

⭐In reading this book, I have found instances looking back on large purchases where I likely fell for some of the sales techniques mentioned in this book. I think when reading this book, you have to self reflect and that’s when a lot of what the author divulges starts to sink in. It’s not super detailed and you may actually feel like you know a lot of what is mentioned in this book. But, if you put effort into thinking about youself, you’ll find it a useful tool.

⭐I think Rushkoff is dead on, particularly in regard to the Internet’s failure to live up to its potential. After all, here I am conversing on a commerce website, because Amazon has figured out a way to tie my basic human need to share my opinions with generating book sales. I think Rushkoff accurately predicts a world where consumers will still have free choice, but the spectrum of choices will become much narrower. It will be interesting to see what it will be like to eat in a restaurant in a foreign country twenty years from now. Perhaps the need to actually choose and order your food will seem as quaint and antiquated as the lack of ice cubes in soda is today.

⭐Reveals how the manipulation of media and media statements is in its effect, very coercive. Rushkoff is an excellent writer making the book both enlightening and highly readable. He is intellectually honest and perceptive. This is my second copy after I couldn’t fail to share it with someone else.

⭐I know that may seem like a lot.. but trust me.. for a twenty-something kid that always knew these things exsisted, but never truly understood how and why.. this book changed my life. I feel better prepared to handle the world around me, and I now have the ability to better control my life and not let it spin out of control by being sucked into the social nonsense spun by advertisers and media heads. This book should be on the reading list of every communications class in every school and college in the country.

⭐Great insight into marketing psychology.

⭐wake up and read this!!, it happens to everyday people I was fooled

⭐A++++

⭐a very readable look at the way we are coerced into buying and more – my favourite part :the 20 stages of being drawn in.

⭐It’s a very worthwhile read. Well written too.

⭐Very interesting and a great read.

⭐Fast deliv. Brilliant, thanks you very much!

⭐voici un livre de douglas rushkoff, un analyste des médias, qui explique les causes de la manipulation qu’opèrent les médias sur les citoyens

⭐

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