Are marketers trying to make people unhappy?

Seth Godin that we have a better standard of living today than Louis XIV did in his day. So why are so many people unhappy? He explains that "What you have doesn't make you unhappy. What you want does.... And want is created by us, the marketers."
He just reminded me about the excellent book 99 Francs from Frédéric Beigbeder. An ex advertiser himself he used only the price of his book as a title to show in this fun, non politically correct novel the dark side of the advertising world. just posted about the fact

The first lines are the perfect illustration of Seth's post : "I am the guy… who make you dream at things you will never own. Sky always blue, cheeks never bad looking, perfect happiness... When, after many savings, you will be able to pay for the car of your dream... I will already have outfashionated it... I always find a way to frustrate you... I make you addicted to novelty... there is always a new thing to make the previous one out of fashion... Making you drooling from envy is my mission. In my business, nobody wish you to be happy, because happy people are not consuming..."

And you what do you think? Are advertisers evil puppet masters? or do you think that this strategy would only be profitable in the short term?

Comments

[Celina]

Did you ever noticed that people are more delighted with a party, during which they waited 3 hours to enter, had to wait 8 hours to order a drink at the bar, whose price was too expensive?
Although marketers and advertisers have this sort of "baseline" underlying in their profession (not to make people happy), it seems to me that it is above all something very human. The marketing simply uses theories and observations in sociology, psychology and so on. The frustration is a great source of energy in many fields, also for the creation, from my point of view.
We must not confuse frustration and dissatisfaction. The frustration is closer to the principle of elitism. We are attracted by what is inaccessible. We are easily envious. The advertising captures these energies deeply rooted in human nature. Examples? Apple. The perfect example of a marketing strategy based on frustration;)