Speaker:  Mr Gerard Hastings, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Social Marketing, Stirling University

Overview

We live in the attention economy: never have our eyes been so sought after, our minds so pursued, our hearts so seduced. Marketers have long used the best insights of the social sciences, from anthropology to zoology, to guide their influential arts. They understand that the human being is an emotional elephant under the fragile control of a rational mahout, and hone their approaches accordingly. Time and again the mahout loses out: the reality of lung cancer is masked by the illusion of machismo; the actuality of liver disease is veiled by the semblance of belonging; harms to baby, mother and planet are obscured by the modernity of formula. Now digital has added a nuclear dimension to the marketers’ arsenal: with it they can harness our innermost secrets to their sentiment dashboards; create norms as well as exploit them and meld advertising with editorial. The world is theirs for the making and taking. Such unprecedented power has profound implications for us as consumers, citizens and human beings; for public health and civic life. This session will explore these and seek your views on how society should respond.

Webinar link: meeting number: 928 360 571