An immediate consequence of the moral disapproval felt both inside and outside the ad agencies has been the militant do-gooder response of the ad men. They argue that advertising is geared to industrial production, and is really a means of applying its benefits to the mass market. Advertising, therefore, is good because it is a social instrument for raising the general standard of living.
“Advertising as a Magical Institution” from The Commerce Journal, Toronto, (1952), reprinted in On the Nature of Media (2016), p 17
Year: 1952
Chapter:
Advertising
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan