That does seem a far cry from Ogilvy's concept of advertising as a relatively neutral activity that results in repeat sales when the product is worthy, or a single sale and death of the product if it is not.

             Turow's argument is cogent. It is undeniable that mass media publications such as Life and Look, publication that appealed to a broad spectrum of America, have disappeared. Any trip through Barnes & Noble or Borders reveals an enormous multitude of publications reaching niches from dog owners to xenophobes. It's difficult even to find the same magazines, at least the smaller circulation ones, month to month. This fact alone supports Turow's claims that advertising is a destructive force, as opposed to Ogilvy's contention that advertising is neutral at worse, helpful at best.

             Turow contends that the current marketing/media world is "determine" to replace the "society-making media" (quoted by Atlantic Monthly, 1997, pp, 113-120) that was obviously the status quo at the time of Ogilvy's essay. Instead, we now have "segment-making media" (Atlantic Monthly, 1997, pp. 113-120) that could:.

             Zero in on the demographic and psychodemographic corners of our 260-million-person consumer marketplace--the nooks that have been illuminated by such research systems as the Yankelovich Monitor and the Values and Lifestyles (VALS) Program. Three national television networks and a short list of mass magazines were overwhelmed by myriad print and electronic vehicles, from Rolling Stone to Black Entertainment Television, whose editorial content--following Madison Avenue's obsession with niches--stressed the contrasts between their own audiences and those of other media (Atlantic Monthly, 1997, pp. 113-120).

             Another area in which Ogilvy seems to have been living in a childlike dreamworld was that of ethics. In Ogilvy's world, only politicians ran misleading advertising, but only for themselves and against opponents.