The Space Merchants

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Synopsis

In this classic send-up of American commercialism, a near-future earth is resource-depleted but callously ruled by advertising, splitting society between all-powerful ad agencies & exploited consumers. Mitchell Courtenay is a glib ad-exec who has just landed the assignment of a lifetime: enticing consumers to colonize Venus. So what if the atmosphere reeks of formaldehyde, the ambient temperature boils water & the winds reach 500 mph? Here was a bright new tomorrow to sell. No one was better at convincing consumers to stake their futures on a hellhole than Mitch Courtenay. But Mitch no sooner dusts the confetti of victory from his shoulders when he discovers that his wife wants to end their trial marriage & that someone is out to kill him. Then his cushy existence is stolen outright when his ID tattoo is altered to the status of a lowly consumer. Rather than serve out a 5-year contract as a menial laborer, he skillfully connives his way back up the social chain to learn who wanted him dead. His suspects include everyone from his former co-workers to rival agencies & a rabid conservationist group called the Consies--even an astronaut out for his wife's affections. In a cutthroat world that would sell lead paint to children, Courtenay must out-fox, out-scam & out-run his enemies. As only an ad-man can. --front flap