Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Interesting analysis on our over medicated society

My uncle sent a link to the family. A recent column at CNN explains how some medical companies think.

How to brand a disease -- and sell a cure starts with:

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If you want to understand the way prescription drugs are marketed today, have a look at the 1928 book, "Propaganda," by Edward Bernays, the father of public relations in America.

For Bernays, the public relations business was less about selling things than about creating the conditions for things to sell themselves. When Bernays was working as a salesman for Mozart pianos, for example, he did not simply place advertisements for pianos in newspapers. That would have been too obvious.

Instead, Bernays persuaded reporters to write about a new trend: Sophisticated people were putting aside a special room in the home for playing music. Once a person had a music room, Bernays believed, he would naturally think of buying a piano. As Bernays wrote, "It will come to him as his own idea."
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It is a good column, a bit scary.

1 comment:

Luke Holzmann said...

Interesting. The issue here--in my mind--is the difference between meeting a need and creating a need. I'm okay with one. I'm not so fond of the other.

~Luke