a)We do not have a democratic society, we have (at best) a republic. A fairly socialized one even in the US.
b)We also, because even the US is fairly socialistic, do not have a pure capitalistic society. The government puts all sorts of strictures of what one can and cannot sell. In a society of pure capitolism, I could sell "Broken Glass Chocos" if I had a good enough marketing machine not to mention false advertising and anti-trust issues.
As for brainwashing, of course it is, thats the whole point. You want to sell your product, so you use positive reinforcement (or some other fun technique) to make people think drinking coke/smoking cigarettes/etc will make them sexier, funnier, and rich. Truth has nothing to do with it, its all about psychology. At least they made subliminal advertising illegal (fnord). |
