I recently heard about this book called The Hidden Persuaders (Amazon.com) by Vance Packard (wiki). Its the Bible for anyone interested in advertising and social influence.
This book has been widely spoken about on the Internet and there have been a few negative comments too. I would read the book first and then comment on it.
Some chapters are available online here. I cant find this book anywhere on Indian websites and ordering from Amazon is prohibitively expensive. Can anyone point to some resources?
Another book that comes to mind is Prof. Cialdini’s (wiki) Influence (website, Amazon.com).