The job of advertisers is straightforward. They convince us to buy things we need, and more often, things we probably don’t need — the next iPhone, a buttery leather couch from West Elm, a shampoo that promises to make our hair shiny and full.

Advertisers don’t just remind us of things we intended to buy, however. Through psychological manipulation, persistence, and a deep knowledge of consumers, advertisers generate and shape demand, and by extension, markets.

In this role advertisers have amassed considerable power. They facilitate the expansion of capital and the commodification of new spheres of life.