Ad Nauseum: Who Are You?

I think the most important connection I can make in terms of how Ad Nauseum and that which we have already discussed and study, is the constant struggle I have with who I really am. The ideas within Feed, and The Ad and The Ego, Ad Nauseum and even in Brave New World, its that the corporate or branded world, is defining us rather than us defining it. In the opening chapter of Ad Nauseum, they make reference to ad's being predatory, and that in their development, it went from trying to help you, to trying to control you. I feel that like Feed, Ad Nauseum is hinting at the world we are not supposed to see, the world that is planning your next vacation, what and where you eat, who your friends are. I feel that "it" is getting closer and closer to creating our reality for us, brand naming it, and selling it to us a discount price, because you've "got a nice face."
The scary part is that you do not know how deep it goes, nor how you have been affected subliminally. That lemonade you bought may be your favorite drink, or maybe you just think its your favorite drink, or maybe its because you were corralled to like that drink. It plays on the subject of how in control are you in your own life, when at the start of your life, you are inundated with the wishes of others. So at what point is it your choice.
In Ad Nauseum, it discusses how although ad's from an outside perspective may seem silly (the Viceroy Cigarette Ad was classic) they still connect with people, and still play on insecurities and symbols which within the human psyche are important for "perceived success." As long as one can attain those characteristics you view as important in your happiness, whether its being sexy, having money, having tons of friends, ads play on the human thirst for societal acceptance.
For example, in "How Real is Real?", by Paul Watzlawick, he makes reference to a series of tests done a University of Penn professor in which a group of students are asked to look at a card with a single line, and then on a second card pick one of three lines which matched the length of the line on the first. At first all the students pick the correct line on their own, but for the second part of the test all but one of the subjects is told to choose the wrong line, and see whether the lone subject will choose on his own or submit to the pressure of the group.
The results were that 75% of the time, they chose the wrong answer alongside the group. The test played on the ideas discussed in our texts, that although we do not believe we are susceptible to the pressure of our peers, inherently we all do strive for some sort of acceptance, some form of connection, and if that means buying this or supporting that, than that's what we strive for.
As Willie Loman told Biff before his interview in Death of a Salesman, "Don't whistle on the elevator."