Holiday Survival: Secret Tricks of Retailers

Martin Lindstrom leads a double life: As chairman of consulting firm Buyology, Inc., he helps large companies market brands better. As an author, he calls himself a consumer advocate, arguing that companies go “too far [pulling] money out of the pockets of consumers at a time when they can’t really afford it.”

Corporate marketing is getting “incredibly advanced,” he says, and consumers can’t keep up. That’s the argument in Lindstrom’s newest book, “Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy,” published in September.