The Rolling Stones were just paraphrasing and parsing in lyrical form the content already distributed and disseminated in Vance Packards best selling books, The Hidden Persuaders (1957), Status Seekers (1959) - as well as Martin Mayers' book Madison Avenue USA. (1958)

The "beat" generation were the first hippies and were the largest consumers of this mainstream anti-capitalism dispersed by Vance Packard. Packard unveiled a whole bunch of stuff that was under the radar of most Americans. Between 1900 and 1955, advertising was used by less literate Americans as a sort of social cue card and dispenser of knowledge. An amazing number of people believed it when Camels were said to "aid your digestion" in an advertisement. Millions of women really did believe some chemical named Guardall or Brightex would protect their floors better or whiten their laundry - because the ads in the magazines said it would.

Vance Packard blew this all away with his expose on the tricks advertising agencies and companies use to convince you to buy products you don't need or buy their product over a competitors. In a nice, 1950s way, he made it clear the advertising industry were con-men who used science and psychology to get money for big business.

By the time the Stones put the lyrics in their song - this was old news to the 20 something beatniks and those in the educational and literary arena. Madison Avenue, like too much chrome on cars, was under assualt already by the late fifties by the elitists who felt they knew they were being manipulated. The Stones were late to the game but they captured the coming of age teens who had no idea who Vance Packard was or had heard any of the derogatory rhetoric already circulating around universities about Madison Avenue and the beatnik poets, Greenwich village types that embraced anti-social, anti-mainstream views like they were the very air needed for life.

I think this is what bothers me so much about leftists in general. They are suckers for any anti-mainstream views of the period. They can be manipulated very easily into protesting complainers by forces that present one-sided equations.

Vance Packard's books were fine. But they omitted the balancing parts of the social equations they presented. Yes, "ad-men" manipulated the public for sales, but these same sales created the wealth and jobs that employed millions of Americans and which did provide a better quality of life for Americans by spurring competition.

If manufacturer X comes out with a new chemical that cleans shirts brighter, manufacturer Y spent some of their profits to research other chemicals that could even out-whiten manufacter X's product and ad a fresh smelling scent to boot! This was marketing rivalry and capitalism at work. The ad game was often dishonest but they also served a very valuable service in promoting progress. This aspect was completely obscured from the youth that embrace anything to rebel against existing norms.

The elitists thought they were smarter than the average American and felt they knew the truth. What they were not smart enough to see was who was presenting the anti-social view and why? The Stones were just like any rock group - in it for the bucks and fame. In many ways they were no better than any corporation or ad agency on Madison Avenue. They were just as dishonest about their "rebel" image and their agents, promoters and profiteers were often the very same ad-men and firms that were being protested by the songs lyrics!

Hypocrisy at iits finest. Fortunately for the Elvis, The Stones, Beatles and any other "revolutionary", "new" artist or group their target audience are illiterate and young. Elvis, Beatles, Stones, Depeche Mode, RunDMC, Sinead O'Conner, Eminem and thousands of others make their money off of exploiting youth's desire to rebel against the norm and their parents. By the time they reach 30 they (if theyu've been paying any attention at all) realize they've been hoodwinked and exploited - raped by the very marketing system and status quo they thought they were rebelling against.

Leftists generally seem to miss out on this epiphany and cling to anti-social attitudes and a protesting society mentality their entire life - to absolutely no constructive ends at all - merely to fulfill a psychological need to feel different and smarter than the rest of the masses and to justify all the bad things that happen to them or to others.

The smartest leftists, utopian visionaries all pass through the various leftist cycles of protest and as they gather more and more information and figure out what's truly best for the masses of the world - emerge strong pro-capitalist conservatives.