Hyperconsumption Corporate Marketing vs. the Planet

Diving deep into the world of corporate marketing, this incisive and eye-opening work shows how, in the hands of the corporation, business has become manipulative, divisive and disastrously at odds with the needs of the natural world. It calls on us to rethink and rebel. The corporate marketing blitz is driven by a simple economic truth: profits depend on demand always exceeding supply. A multi-billion-dollar global industry has therefore been created with the sole aim of turning us into devout consumers. Gerard Hastings invites us to explore alternatives to a system that is threatening our survival. He explores what it is to be human, how marketing can be used to do good rather than harm and the potential of alternative models that empower us to be citizens, not just consumers. Professionals and students in the business, marketing, public health, environmental and political sectors – as well as concerned citizens who know that business as usual is not an option – will value this accessible guide to what is going wrong with our current business models and how these failings can be addressed.

Introduction: Human Beings Not Customers Section 1: The Corporate Marketing Machine 1.Original Sin: The Spawning of Corporate Marketing 2.Advertising and the Art of Organised Lying 3.The Machinery of Marketing 4.Grooming the Next Generation 5.SurveillanceCapitalism 6.Marketing, Power and the Demise of DemocracySection 2: We Shall Overcome 7.Deep in my Heart 8.We'll Walk Hand in Hand 9.The Whole Wide World Around

Gerard Hastings is Professor Emeritus at Stirling University, UK. For the last four decades, he has studied the damaging impacts that commercial marketing has on our health and wellbeing, publishing his findings widely in both academic and non-academic outlets. He is a sought-after keynote speaker, and his work has attracted both the attention of the media and the ire of some multinationals. He continues to act as an expert witness in litigation against the corporate sector in the UK and overseas.