Jerry Irwin Mander (May 1, 1936 – April 11, 2023) was an American activist and author in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, known for his use of

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

for progressive and ecological causes and for his 1978 book, '' Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television''.

Early life and education

Mander was born in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York City, and raised in

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

, one of two children of Harry Mander, a garment worker who later started a company manufacturing clothing linings, and his wife Eva. Both of his parents were Jewish immigrants who had left Poland and Romania, respectively, to escape persecution. Mander originally aspired to be a professional golfer. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953, and then earned a B.S. in economics from the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1957, and an M.S. in

international economics International economics is concerned with the effects upon economic activity from international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the international institutions that affect them. It seeks to explain the patterns an ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1959.

Career

After working for a short time in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

for Worthington Corporation in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, in 1960 Mander moved to

, where he was hired as a publicist for the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by SFFILM, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and vid ...

. He also co-promoted the psychedelic Trips Festival in 1966; worked for the modern dancer Anna Halprin, accompanying her on a European tour as her manager; and with

Ernest Callenbach Ernest William Callenbach (April 3, 1929 – April 16, 2012) was an American author, film critic, editor, and simple living adherent. Having many connections with a group of noted creative individuals in Northern California, Callenbach's influen ...

, founded the first art-house cinema in San Francisco. In 1966, he joined Howard Gossage's advertising agency, which became Freeman, Mander & Gossage after Mander became a partner. Clients included the comedy troupes the Committee, for whom Mander ran a full-page ad in the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' announcing a competition to donate war toys to be air-dropped on the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

, and Firesign Theater. After Gossage's death in 1969, the firm broke up and Mander became independent. He co-founded Public Interest Communications to assist individuals and nonprofits, then joined the Public Media Center, where he remained for 20 years as a senior fellow. In 1966, while at Freeman & Gossage, Mander created an ad campaign for the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

that is largely credited with stopping a U.S. Government plan to dam the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

in the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

in order to raise the level of the river and to generate

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

. Mander's newspaper ads, with headlines like "Should We Also Flood the Sistine Chapel So Tourists Can Get Nearer the Ceiling?" and "Now Only You Can Save Grand Canyon From Being Flooded ... For Profit", included coupons for readers to clip and mail to the President and the Secretary of the Interior. The Sierra Club remained a client; another was

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

, for whom he created a 1985 abortion rights campaign that also included coupons for readers to mail to officials, in addition to photos of two women with their accounts of obtaining illegal abortions,and of a firebombed abortion clinic. His last major campaign, the ''Turning Point Project'' for the

Foundation for Deep Ecology Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

, encompassed 25 weekly full-page ads in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on a range of ecological topics. The ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' called him "the

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...

of advertising. Mander was program director at the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and in 1994 founded the

International Forum on Globalization International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, a multi-national think tank in counterpoint to the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

and the

North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

that held sold-out teach-ins and launched the anti-corporatist movement. He served as its executive director until 2009, when he became a Distinguished Fellow. In 2007, he appeared in the documentary film '' What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire''. Mander published eight non-fiction books, the best known being ''Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television'' in 1978, in which he argued that television paves the way for autocracy by isolating viewers and dulling their minds. In 2022 he published a memoir through the prism of his advertising work for transformative causes, ''70 Ads to Save the World''.

Personal life and death

In 1965, Mander married feminist author Anica Vesel. They had two sons, Kai and Yari. They divorced in 1982; she died in 2002. He remarried in 1987 to Elizabeth Garsonnin, a filmmaker and colleague at the Public Media Center, from whom he was also divorced, and in 2009 to Koohan Paik, also a filmmaker. They split their time between his longtime home in Bolinas, California, and her home in Hawaii. Mander died at home in Kukuihaele, Hawaii, on April 11, 2023, at the age of 86. According to family, the cause was

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

Works

*''The Great International Paper Airplane Book'', with George Dippel and Howard Gossage (1971) *'' Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television'' (1978) *''In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations'', Sierra Club Books (1991) *''The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward the Local'', with Edward Goldsmith (1996) .
''Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World Is Possible''
Contributor, with the International Forum on Globalization Alternatives Task Force (2004) , . *''Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples' Resistance to Globalization'', with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (2006) *''The Superferry Chronicles: Hawaii’s Uprising Against Militarism, Commercialism, and the Desecration of the Earth,'' with Koohan Paik, Koa Books (2008) *''The Capitalism Papers: Fatal Flaws of an Obsolete System'' (2012) *''70 Ads to Change the World: An Illustrated Memoir of Social Change'' (2022)

References

External links

*
"Bad Magic: The Failure of Technology"
- An interview with Jerry Mander by Catherine Ingram from ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' magazine, November 1991
"The Perils of Globalization"
- An interview with Jerry Mander by Scott London (from the radio series ''Insight & Outlook'')

- An interview with Jerry Mander by W. David Kubiak, archived fro

on September 8, 2012
"Privatization of Consciousness"
an article by Jerry Mander, ''

Monthly Review The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...