How are salt, sugar, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, opioids, and cocaine alike?
We know they offer little or no nutritional benefit, can be addictive, and may cause health problems. They also provide pleasure to the brain. But another similarity is often overlooked: these substances-which author John L. Graham refers to collectively as spices-are all pushed upon us by companies and producers that relentlessly market them.
Given the potential dangers of these and other psychoactive substances, consumers may believe that their governments and public health policies would protect them. But as Graham reveals, regulations often do little to curb consumption; instead, interested businesses actively encourage overuse of their products and may pay off the politicians.
While other authors have also addressed the history and health effects of spices, Graham is the first to examine the marketing and advertising techniques used to hook consumers.
Through Spiced, Graham hopes to expose marketing's role in sustaining our addiction to sugar, tobacco, and other psychoactive substances and to then inspire a discussion of strategies for reining in that marketing. To get the conversation going, he offers seven cogent "prescriptions for change" that he believes could fix our broken health policy.
About the Author: John L. Graham studied marketing and cultural anthropology in his doctoral program at UC Berkeley. He has collaborated with colleagues in international marketing in twenty-four countries. His book with co-authors, International Marketing (McGraw-Hill, 17th edition), is the most popular book in the world on the topic.
Formerly a professor at the University of Southern California, Graham is now professor emeritus and director of the Center for Global Leadership at the Merage School of Business at UC Irvine.
Graham has published articles in the Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other prestigious publications and has been interviewed on national and foreign broadcast media. In addition to Spiced, he has written six books on international marketing and global negotiations. For information on his books and upcoming projects, visit Graham's websites: www.Spiced.World, www.OrangeTreePartners.net, www.InventiveNegotiation.com, www.GlobalNegotiationBook.com, and www.AllintheFamilyBook.us.
Graham spent nine years as an officer with the Navy Underwater Demolition/SEAL Teams. Since leaving the military, he has focused his work on promoting peace.
