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I believe marketing is effective because identity is a chimera and people are pack animals. Some people are iconoclast loners or free thinkers or just don't want to be manipulated. Or it cc oukd be that if you market the weakness the marketer will prevail. @Troywhy do you use Google? When you admit they are putting you out of business. That's less sensical than smokers or drinkers, since the ads the people are having fun with other people. And there is a physiological change after using the product.

@Mel Hopkins Yes, that is it. It is not an either or proposition, and there are varying degrees of influence across a wide range of domains. However, all things considered I believe the influence of marketers, in our capitalist society, does us more harm than good. But again, that is because I believe we are more adversely influenced by their influence than you do. Death from cancers diabetes, hypertension, poor air quality, etc, are all the result of use behaving in ways, influenced by marketers that is self-destructive. We can't even get guns out of the hands of crazy folks you'll shoot up a church or school because of the gun culture that has been manufactured .

Interesting article. Seems the great flood washed way a great many things. The flood story permeates ancient culture across the globe.

@Troy It appears you are under the influence of advertising. It seems you give it far too much credit. People can only be influenced to do what they already want to do... it has nothing to do with strong will or lack thereof...it is about the desires and goals. Every salesperson, every marketer knows that. This is why we sell to audiences that are primed for a sale. If the person's interest is piqued by the ad - then there's an in...if not then the advertiser seeks to sell to someone who is. For example, I'm not particularly disciplined but there's no amount marketing that could make me smoke or drink. I don't drink beer, liquor, whiskey or smoke and I grew up in Brooklyn. Further, I am a media junkie. I watch more television, read more books, magazine articles and newspapers than the average person. I can tell you which jingle and tagline goes with which product and there's a lot. I even collect advertising and promotional items. This means I'm exposed to more advertising than the average person but it takes someone in my peer group to suggest I try a product. The reason why I'm a hard sell is because I like to be in control of my faculties. My will to remain in control is stronger than the influence of advertising. Advertising is that simple there's nothing nefarious about it. Find someone's desires and goal then you can sell to that thing to them. Disclaimer: When I was television news anchor, I did smoke in the place of eating. I maintained my high school cheerleading size as a grown women of three daughters because I lived on cigarettes and coffee. My ex-husband smoked and he was thin - so I figured it'd helped me CONTROL my appetite. I stopped when it no longer served me haven't smoked cigarettes since. My point is, there has to be something in it for the buyer to be persuaded to bUy the product. Not the other way around.

@TroyNothing you say has anything to do with the point i am trying to make in response to you and Pioneer insisting that this society with its white western values is a puritanical one that represses people's natural instincts. The gist of what i am saying is that this is actually a pretty free-wheeling society we live in. i am not talking about the necessity of moral codes. That's another subject. And i can't believe you don't know "the age of consent" when it comes to sex. Anybody over 17 is free to engage in sex with anyone they choose, as long as it is mutually agreed upon. They just have to deal with whatever personal consequences ensue from this. But it is not something they are legally forbidden to do. And it's also not against the law for any single female to have a baby. Abortion is more contested than this. When statutory rape enters the picture then the law steps in. This is how it goes in this white western country. i have no idea what the rules are in the African sphere where Pioneer, especially, seems to think that anything goes when it comes to black folks gettin their groove on in the course of being "natural". Incidentally, my daughters and granddaughters are all over the age of 17 and i don't meddle in their personal lives. I trust them to be mature enough to do what's best for themselves inasmuch as my disapproval would probably fall on deaf ears. 

Congratulations Mel

I seen a lot of hoax too. But there is some accurate evidence, but it is difficult to determine on the internet if you don't know what to look for. Also, Some of this information is deliberately kept out of public view.