Recommended Reading
Stay Free! - web editionMy zine about commercialism and pop culture. A Rational Argument was later rewritten as Singled Out: An unapologetically alarmist look at targeted marketing. See also Bret Dawson's excellent The Digital Race and my piece on net marketing, TRUSTe: Spare Me
The Naked Consumer
By Erik Larson
(Penguin, 1992)
Excellent introduction to the business of buying and selling personal
information from a man who discovered it by having a baby. The ins and outs of
psychographics, demographics, mailing list brokering, the U.S. Census: all the
hits!
Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
by Neil Postman
(First Vintage Books, 1992)
As the flap copy says, Technopoly "chronicles our transformation from a
society that uses technology to one that is shaped by it." Postman spends too
much time grouping cultures into what he calls Tool-users, Technocracies and
Technopolies, but his analysis of technology's effects on politics, history,
privacy, truth, etc. is extremely eye-opening. A chapter on "invisible
technologies" -- statistics, polling, IQ--is particularly applicable to
database marketing.
That Total Package: The Evolution and Secret Meaning of Boxes, Bottles,
Cans and Tubes
by Thomas Hine
A cultural history of packaging. Personable and entertaining. Also see the chapter on packaging in Daniel Boorstin's Americans: The Democratic Experience.
The One to One Future
by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
(Currency Doubleday, 1993)
The truly amazing thing about this book is that when you get to the end
there's a section that thoroughly summarizes some of the social and ethical
ramifications of 1:1 marketing. These issue are left un-refuted and
unresolved, 'cept for a few unconvincing clichés about market-based
solutions.
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
by Jerry Mander
(Quill, 1978)
Mander may be a hard-liner but you don't have to hate TV to get something
out of this book. The first argument,
the Mediation of Experience, is the one that relates most directly to the
matters discussed here.
The Wall Street Journal
My favorite newspaper. Essential.
Advertising Age
The trade magazine for the advertising industry. Essential
reading for anyone wanting a critical understanding of the field. Subscription
rates are way up there but it's usually available at libraries (and they offer
a less-expensive student rate to anyone who can name a school). Much of the
text is available on the web site. The pages of which are large and unwieldy--
you get what you pay for--but a great resource nonetheless.
American Demographics / Marketing Tools
The mac daddies of psychographic and demographic studies. An
incredible archive. Some of the articles I used here: "Focus on the Household" by Jock Bickert, Marketing
Tools, November/December 1995;
Psychographics: Q'uest-Ce Que C'est? by Rebecca Piirto Heath, Marketing Tools
November/December 1995;
New Markets for Cable Television, by Rebecca Piirto, American Demographics, June 1995.
PR Watch
The first time I remember reading about database marketing was an
article in PR Watch about the Christian Coalitions' grassroots campaigning. It
made me wonder which was worse: that the Christian Coalition were using these
marketing practices or the marketing practices themselves.... PR Watch is a less-than-quarterly newsletter published by the Center for Media
and Democracy. Consider the 35 subscription price a donation well-spent.
The editors also wrote an in-depth overview of the public relations industry well worth your time, Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relation Industry, by John Stauber and Sheldom Rampton. Info-dense, well-documented and wonderfully paranoid.
For an introduction into what Stauber and Rampton cover, see John Stauber's article in Covert Action Quarterly, PR's Secret War on Activists. Subscriptions to PR Watch are 35 a year from 3318 Gregory Street, Madison, WI 53711. (608) 233-3346. 74250.735@compuserve.com
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