Lindblom - The Market System - Afghan Journalists' Committee

Persuading the Masses 217problem is that much of it is noninformational or misinformational.As is evident to all of us who are appealed to bysales promotion, much of it is designed to move the consumerby emotional appeal, to thwart rational deliberation,and to obfuscate. Pepsi is an “up thing” according to an ad,something to be identified with good spirits or perhaps thephallus. The message is in any case not informative onwhat the drink contains or in what respects Coca-Cola isthe same or different. It is mind-rattling rather than helpfulto thoughtful choice. The problem posed by the steady flowof seductive communications from market elites, then, isnot that they decide for consumers what they are to buy. Itis that they degrade the mind or, more precisely, degrade thehuman capacity to use the mind.Can that be proved? No, I think not. But it is a conclusionalso hard to deny. A reasonable suspicion—to understateit—is that the messages of market elites constitute atwofold assault on the mind, the effects of which are all themore grave because government elites join in the assault.The first assault might be called distraction. Market elitesin particular cry constantly for the attention of customersand drench them in torrents of persuasion. Sales promotionand public relations, both commercial and political, are industriesin themselves. Their communications everywherecatch our eyes and ears. Market elite persuasion of mass isso persistent and relentless, so widespread, and so inventivein its appeals that one must ask how much room it leaves inthe mind for thinking about other things—or thinking at allrather than simply reacting. What room for conversation,introspection, speculation, creativity? How much room forthinking about anything other than possible purchases?The second assault is obfuscation. As we see it about us,sales promotion and political persuasion deal heavily in im-