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Show Packard Hits IL0 eHedonim9 Notes Effect Of Ads On Attitudes Of Americans Vance 'Packard, noted author of a series of best selling books, delivered a speech titled "What's Happening to American Character" Tuesday night in the Union Ballroom. "AMERICA," HE said, is experiencing ex-periencing "a most dramatic upheaval." up-heaval." The most 'important aspect as-pect of this upheavel is the impact im-pact of technology on American character. Technology has introduced intro-duced "more unknowable factors than ever before" and many people feel lost and are making r .is?5"-5 - of BESTSELLING AUTHOR Vance Packard stopped stop-ped in the "Chronicle" office Tuesday before speaking to a Union audience. He decried influence of advertising in American life. the "unworthy response of turning turn-ing inward." Mr. Packard stated that there was truly a danger in technology for it has made possible a fantastic fan-tastic amount of goods and services, serv-ices, and Americans are being urged "to consume enough to meet the needs of the marketing enterprises." It is difficult for this country to "maintain the one to one ratio of full employment and consumption necessary for a healthy economy" because of automation and increased work forces. "Everyone is calling for growth," he said. This is where advertising steps in. THE LANDSCAPE is being used as a "backdrop for commercial com-mercial appeals and we all know that now God's country has become be-come Marlboro country." "As the pressure to move goods mounts, that pressure becomes be-comes more pervasive and can change our style of life." Hedonism Hedon-ism is used by Madison Avenue as a str&gedy to move goods. Mr. Packard quoted from a Clairol ad to prove his point: "If you have only one life to live, let me live it as a Clairol blond." THERE HAS been a promotion of narcissism by advertising, he stated. In America, "one billion dollars a year is spent on products pro-ducts to lose weight, while half the world is starving." "While this preoccupation with the self may be gratifying, it is hardly in keeping with the tenets of our Judaeo-Christian faith." Status, anxiety and achievement achieve-ment are favorite devices of Madison Avenue. Many products sell because they intimate that there is "more" in a person who buys them. Thus, there are real estate ads like: "The home for those who have arrived." MADISON AVENUE has certainly cert-ainly made an impact on the human spirit, Mr. Packard said. It has caused "a decline in prudence," pru-dence," "Satisfaction as consumer con-sumer rather than as creator," "accepance of hedonism as a way of life," and the sexual revolution. rev-olution. Along with this gloomy picture pict-ure of contemporary America, Mr. Packard offered some, constructive con-structive suggestions for living with technology. We are being "challenged to adjust to abundance abund-ance and leisure," he said. There must be a growth in civic pride, and a solution for the unemployment unemploy-ment problem. In our own lives, we must recognize rec-ognize "teachings which make us irrational." Mr. Packard exhorted that we must all give "more thought to leading our own lives." He feels we should all "develop our own private Wald-en Wald-en Ponds." |
