Vance Packard

Vance Oakley Packard (May 22, 1914 – December 12, 1996) was an American journalist and

In The Hidden Persuaders, first published in 1957, Packard explored advertisers' use of consumer motivational research and other psychological techniques, including

According to Packard, these needs are so strong that people are compelled to buy products merely to satisfy those needs. The book also explores the manipulative techniques of promoting politicians to the electorate. Additionally, the book questions the morality of using these techniques.^[9]

While the book was a top-seller among middle-class audiences, it was widely criticised by marketing researchers and advertising executives as carrying a sensationalist tone and containing unsubstantiated assertions^[

In his 1964 book called The Naked Society, Packard criticized advertisers' unfettered use of private information to create marketing schemes. He compared a recent

Packard was married to Virginia Matthews; they had two sons and a daughter.[1] They resided in New Canaan, Connecticut and Martha's Vineyard.^[1] He died in 1996 at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital.^[12]

Publications

• 1946 How to Pick a Mate – a guide co-authored with the head of the Penn State
  marriage counseling
  service
• 1950 Animal IQ: The Human Side of Animals – a popular paperback on
  animal intelligence
• 1957 The Hidden Persuaders – on the
  ISBN 0-671-53149-2
  )
• 1959 The Status Seekers – describing American social stratification and behavior
• 1960 The Waste Makers – criticizes planned obsolescence describing the impact of American productivity, especially on the national character
• 1960 Oh, Happy, Happy, Happy – foreword by Vance Packard, with Charles Saxon
• 1962 The Pyramid Climbers – describes the changing impact of American enterprise on managers, the structured lives of corporate executives and the conformity they need to advance in the hierarchy
• 1964 The Naked Society – on the threats to privacy posed by new technologies such as computerized filing, modern surveillance techniques and methods for influencing human behavior
• 1968 The Sexual Wilderness – on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and changes in male-female relationships
• 1972 A Nation of Strangers – about the attrition of communal structure through frequent geographical transfers of corporate executives
• 1977 The People Shapers – on the use of psychological & biological testing and experimentation to manipulate human behavior
• 1983 Our Endangered Children – discusses growing up in a changing world, warning that American preoccupation with money, power, status, and sex ignored the needs of future generations
• 1989 The Ultra Rich: How Much Is Too Much? – examines the lives of thirty American multimillionaires and their extravagances

See also

• History of advertising
• History of marketing
• Marketing research

Further reading

• The Salon Dec 17, 1996 The Hidden Persuader
• Horowitz, D. (2009) Vance Packard and American Social Criticism (University of North Carolina Press Enduring Editions)
  ISBN 0-8078-5735-1
• Petersen, William (1960). "Review of The Status Seekers". American Sociological Review. 25 (1): 124–126.
  JSTOR 2088964
  .
• Dash, Samuel (1965). "Review of The Naked Society". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 306: 204–205.
  S2CID 144925231
  .
• Schwartz, Alan U. (1965). "Review of The Naked Society". Harvard Law Review. 78 (3): 701–705.
  JSTOR 1339131
  .