Consumers remain ignorant of harms because faceless proxies absorb them

Evidence

People are not only, as the saying goes, falling for the swindle; if it guarantees them even the most fleeting gratification they desire a deception which is nonetheless transparent to them. They force their eyes shut and voice approval, in a kind of self-loathing, for what is meted out to them, knowing fully the purpose for which it is manufactured. Without admitting it they sense that their lives would be completely intolerable as soon as they no longer clung to satisfactions which are none at all. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 141 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The primary technique of murketing is to blur the boundaries between branded entities and the rest of everyday life, and then proceed to engage the frank complicity of the consumer in embracing branded pecuniary culture while believing they are immune to it. It is symptomatic of the dramatic shift in conceptualization of the market away from mere conveyance of commodities and toward the neoliberal framing of the market as uniquely omnipotent information processor. It is intimately conjoined to the neoliberal project of the permanent revolution of the self: by constantly conjuring the magic of self-transformation through purchases, one must understand one’s projects as subverting all external attempts by the powers that be to impose conformity to external manufactured identities. It incites the targets to believe that they can “see through” and comprehend all the brands, the con artistry, the flimflam, the propaganda, the logos, and marketing culture, all the while easing their acquiescence into that very same culture. It is another manifestation of the neoliberal promotion of ignorance, covered in the last chapter. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 393 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Industry used proxy front groups to hide its harm-suppression efforts; Willful ignorance of product misuse lets industries deny responsibility for harm. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1100; Marketing works by making consumers feel immune to it while they buy in — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 393 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Consumers knowingly accept transparent deceptions to avoid intolerable lives. #complicates (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 141
• Marketing works by making consumers feel immune to it while they buy in #complicates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 393