Ernest Dichter and consumer behaviour: intellectual primacy and interpretive consumer research

Ernest Dichter was the twentieth century's ultimate seducer. Born in Vienna and trained by a pupil of Sigmund Freud, Dichter's research into what makes shoppers tick transformed the way the world looked at the relationship between products and consumers. His analyses of car and food advertising were a milestone in the psychological creation of the modern consumer. Surrounded by myths and secrets, Ernest Dichter the man has remained an enigma. Targeted by Vance Packard and many other critics, who branded him as a dangerous psycho-salesman, Dichter's credo has lost none of its inspiration and allure. This is the first international and interdisciplinary study to bring to light the hidden world of postwar motivation research and the insights it created into the way consumers think, feel and act. Its authors chart the influence of psychoanalytic consumer research in the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Austria.