Our Stuff, Our Selves

You’ve likely heard that advertising is in big trouble. Newspaper and TV ad revenue is tanking. Consumers are informed and picky, no longer hostage to TV commercials. We’re skipping ads with Tivo while the Internet offers on-demand content 24/7. But is the advertising business really on its way to extinction?

Rob Walker writes the "Consumed" column in the New York Times magazine, and he’s not finding any proof. Americans are mired in credit card debt and covered in logos, our landfills are mounting with discarded junk, and profits from consumer products are soaring. So something advertisers are doing is working. Rob Walker joins Word of Mouth to tell us about the "murketing" strategies described in his new book, "Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are," and how we grapple with our individuality and our deep wish to be part of something bigger.

The connection between our possessions and ourselves is also of great interest to "snoopologist" Dr. Sam Gosling, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas in Austin. He joins the show to discuss his new book "Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You," which brings the fine art of nosing around people's bedrooms, offices and iPod playlists into the realm of social science.

(Photo by Matt Miller)