This book challenges the conventional view that
advertising manipulates and threatens
consumers. Drawing on extensive research,
the author explains how competitive
advertising improves markets, how it promotes the interests of consumers rather than business, and how
regulation tends to undermine its benefits.
The author, John E. Calfee, is a resident scholar at AEI.
Fear of Persuasion takes its title from an enduring phenomenon. Advertising is always under attack--by politicians, by so-called consumer advocates, by hostile academics (usually students of something other than advertising or economics), and even by business leaders seeking refuge from competition. They argue that advertising exercises too much power over consumers and that vigorous regulation or even ad bans are needed.
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