[westiseast]

I guess I’m saying, marketers aren’t persuading me I need a car. I made a fairly practical choice that I needed a car (maybe I’m not typical?).

But perhaps instead of buying the cheap Japanese one, I bought the expensive German one. So marketers persuaded me to spend 20% more?

The idea that marketers are somehow controlling people’s lives assumes that without marketers, we’d all be living some kind of radically different lives. I doubt we would.

[petra]

Without marketing, people buy a Toyota that's reliable for 20 years, instead of 4 German cars.

Of course fuel-efficiency complicated matters a bit, but in an efficient economy, engines may be replace.

[p1esk]

marketers persuaded me to spend 20% more

Exactly. There are basic needs and there are desires. I’m talking about the latter. Note that to afford that extra 20% you might need to modify your life in some way.