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'Freakonomics' Author Reportedly Compared Marketers To The Gestapo

Laura StamplerMay 31, 2013, 19:12 IST

YoutubeSteven Levitt on "The Daily Show."Brand Republic reports that bestselling "Freakonomics" author Steven Levitt compared marketers to the Gestapo at a conference in London.

Matthew Chapman of Marketing Magazine reports:

Steven Levitt, the author of 'Freakonomics', has compared the role of the marketer to the Gestapo secret police of Nazi Germany and believes marketing struggles to be "authentic". The similarities arise because it is the job of both the Gestapo and marketers to "make people think about things in the right way", he says. Speaking to Marketing at the iEX Idea Exchange conference held by SapientNitro, Levitt said marketers could be successful where the Gestapo failed, by winning people’s hearts.

While there isn't further detail on the strange simile, the comparison seems like a stretch.

Let us know if you heard Levitt's argument.