Dean Cashman

In its first year, this engrossing book has become a must-read for professionals in the fields of advertising, copy-writing, TV sponsorship and all companies who advertise their products. While it may make those of us who work and play outside these arenas gloat at the pitfalls, pratfalls and perplexities of admen, there is really nothing to laugh about--except that great tragedies usually do have sense of irony, burlesque and bathos. That the book may incite feelings of anger and worthlessness among admen, that is one of its biting strengths. The crux of its argument is that PC has overtaken admen and led them to distort their crucial function of selling us--the plebs--products and services-into a higher vision: saving us from ourselves and resurrecting the planet as in a Billy Graham revivalist meeting. It is sharply written with an appealing colloquial style and well backed up with scrupulous end-notes. It is also effectively designed in terms of jacket and its mix of chapter and section titles. Recommended; and, for adland, essential.