ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996              TAG: 9612130077
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: VINEYARD HAVEN, MASS.
SOURCE: Associated Press

SOCIAL CRITIC PACKARD DIES AT 82 HIS BOOKS ATTACKED CONSUMER SOCIETY

Vance Packard, who decried the consumerism and rootlessness of modern America in such books as ``The Hidden Persuaders'' and ``A Nation of Strangers,'' died Thursday at 82.

Packard died at Martha's Vineyard Hospital after a heart attack.

He published his first book, ``Animal IQ,'' in 1950. But his biggest hit was ``The Hidden Persuaders,'' a 1957 best seller that examined how advertisers stimulated consumer buying by using subliminal images and symbols.

He cited the success of Gleem toothpaste, which he said had discovered a secret weapon - that people felt guilty because they didn't brush after every meal.

``Gleem began promising teeth-salvation to these guilt-ridden people by saying it was designed for people who `can't brush after every meal,''' Packard wrote.

``The Hidden Persuaders'' publicized the work of Ernest Dichter, the founder of ``motivational research'' who encouraged advertisers to apply psychoanalytic principles, playing on consumers' unconscious desires for sex and status.

``He was a person who was always prodding the country to be a better country,'' said Daniel Horowitz, a professor of American studies and history at Smith College who wrote a biography of Packard.

Packard was one of a handful of critics who helped the country make the transition between the 1950s and '60s, ``awakening America's social conscience to issues having to do with the environment, excessive commercialism and excessive status,'' Horowitz said.

In ``A Nation of Strangers'' (1972), Packard criticized the loss of family and community ties as Americans became more mobile.

Using census statistics and figures on disconnected telephones, he calculated that one in five Americans was moving each year, leading to an increasingly rootless, alienated society.

Packard continued to criticize what he saw as the hollow values promoted by American consumerism and a work-driven society in his other books.

LENGTH: Short :   49 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  (headshot) Packard