So advertisers came up with ads that had less to do with products than with their audience. Ads can make people aware of their enlarged nose pores or bad breath, an advertising executive explained. Women and young people are specially targeted. The ads sell women a model of feminine beauty and with it the latest slimming agent, hair colouring, skin cream. Teenagers stake out their identity by the trainer shoes they wear.
Labels serve the same identity-defining function.
People's anxiety about their health is also exploited, including the promotion of products which may be totally unnecessary. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation's list of essential drugs contains just 250 items. In fast-developing countries of Asia and Latin America, consumption fired by advertising is a marker for social status. A profile from the Ministry of Health quoted by journalist John Laird in a 1996 talk describes the sufferers as people who pursue luxury consumption and become selfish. Their main aim is to seek more benefit for themselves, even if by dishonest means.