Badvertising

Advertising is selling us a dream, a lifestyle. It promises us fulfilment and tells us where to buy it - in international flights, beef from (what was once) the Amazon, and a vast array of goods we consume like there is no tomorrow. And if advertising succeeds in keeping us on our current trajectory - there may not be a tomorrow. In Badvertising, Andrew Simms and Leo Murray raise the alarm on an industry that is making us both unhealthy and unhappy, and that is driving the planet to the precipice of environmental collapse in the process. The book asks what is the psychological impact of being barraged by literally thousands of advertisements a day? How does the commercialisation of our public spaces weaken our sense of belonging? What are the pitfalls of regulation? How are car manufacturers, airlines and oil companies lobbying to weaken climate action? And most crucially of all, what can we do to stop it?