Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy

Even the savviest consumer is susceptible to the often invisible influences of marketing tactics. Brand outreach is so expansive that companies attempt to influence children in utero by exposing mothers to certain odors and jingles. In other words, fetuses are being prepped for brand loyalty before they can even open their mouths and cry. Lindstrom has more than 20 years of corporate marketing expertise, so Brandwashed is filled with fascinating anecdotes and corporate tactics that are at once brilliant and creepy. Dan Woren’s narration is well paced, authoritative, and soothing. This style works during the book’s more didactic passages. But the author’s prose also contains dry humor that doesn’t come across via Woren’s staid reading. While this audio production is slick and professional, it also feels a little lifeless. A Crown Business hardcover. (Sept.)