Sunday, March 15, 2009

Advertising expert/author to visit campus

Advertising expert George Parker will talk about new developments in advertising when he visits the University of Idaho Monday, March 30. (This is one week later than originally scheduled.) Parker will discuss his latest book, “The Ubiquitous Persuaders: A Look at the Evolution of the Advertising Business from the Inside.” The talk begins at 7 p.m. in room 031 of the university's Teaching and Learning Center (TLC).

Parker describes his book as a response to Vance Packard’s 1957 book, “The Hidden Persuaders.” In it, Parker examines how the advertising industry has changed during the past half century. Jim Clark, JAMM adjunct faculty and a retired advertising professional, calls Parker one of the industry’s visionaries.

“George Parker is either a madman or a genius, or both,” Clark said. “Because only a madman or a genius would have the vision and guts to write a book like this. After all, he's ‘been there’ more than most. And ‘done that’ successfully for many years." Read Parker's current commentary on advertising on his blog: AdScam.