originally published 3/1/1995

Historian and cultural critic Jackson Lears discusses the power of advertising to reinforce and shape cultural attitudes about material goods. In Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America (Basic Books, 1994), Lears examines the history of American advertising and highlights the connections advertisers make between identity and acquisition. Contrary to the popular notion that advertising promotes materialism, Lears argues that it actually prohibits people from enjoying their possessions by focusing them on the pursuit of ever more disposable goods. The advertisers exist to ensure that people will never be satisfied.

9 minutes

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