Advertising is everywhere. By some estimates, the average American is
exposed to over 3,000 advertisements each day. Whether we realize it or
not, "adcreep"--modern marketing's march to create a world where
advertising can be expected anywhere and anytime--has come, transforming
not just our purchasing decisions, but our relationships, our sense of
self, and the way we navigate all spaces, public and private.
Adcreep journeys through the curious and sometimes troubling world of
modern advertising. Mark Bartholomew exposes an array of marketing
techniques that might seem like the stuff of science fiction:
neuromarketing, biometric scans, automated online spies, and facial
recognition technology, all enlisted to study and stimulate consumer
desire. This marriage of advertising and technology has consequences.
Businesses wield rich and portable records of consumer preference,
delivering advertising tailored to your own idiosyncratic thought
processes. They mask their role by using social media to mobilize
others, from celebrities to your own relatives, to convey their
messages. Guerrilla marketers turn every space into a potential site for
a commercial come-on or clandestine market research. Advertisers now
know you on a deeper, more intimate level, dramatically tilting the
historical balance of power between advertiser and audience.
In this world of ubiquitous commercial appeals, consumers and
policymakers are numbed to advertising's growing presence. Drawing on a
variety of sources, including psychological experiments, marketing
texts, communications theory, and historical examples, Bartholomew
reveals the consequences of life in a world of non-stop selling.
Adcreep mounts a damning critique of the modern American legal
system's failure to stem the flow of invasive advertising into our
homes, parks, schools, and digital lives.
