The German philosopher and sociologist, Theodor Adorno was a critic of what he described as the culture industry, which is the term he used to describe the commercial marketing of culture.

In the book, Dialectic of Enlightenment, it was described that the purpose of the culture industry is to ensure the masses continue to follow and obey market interests for economic benefit. Specifically, Adorno said, capitalism corrupts us by not selling us the things that we really need. In today’s world, stores such as Walmart or Amazon give us the impression that everything we want is available thanks to their large amount and variety of goods on sale. Adorno said that what we really want is obstructed by capitalism so that we settle as a substitute for manufactured desires by large companies whose interest is in profit, rather than our well-being. As an example, some needs that we crave and require in order to prosper include happiness and a sense of community and connection. Advertisers use these cravings to their advantage by showing these things we want and then connect them to what they’re trying to sell, which we don’t truly need. So, when the television displays an advert showing a group of friends all laughing, joking and having a great time together, they’ll all be holding and drinking the brand of beer that the seller will urge us to buy at the end. Another example might be displaying popularity and status through an advert showing somebody receiving a lot of attention getting out of a fast car or going to an exclusive event, when in fact the advertiser is actually selling an aftershave or perfume. By purchasing the product, the consumer is buying the myth of status, rather than the product purely on its own merits.

德国哲学家和社会学家西奥多·阿多诺对他所说的文化产业持批评态度，文化产业是他用来描述文化商业营销的术语。

在《启蒙辩证法》一书中，有人描述了文化产业的目的是确保大众为了经济利益而继续遵循和服从市场利益。具体来说，阿多诺说，资本主义通过不向我们出售我们真正需要的东西来腐蚀我们。在当今世界的商店中，如沃尔玛或亚马逊给我们的印象是，我们想要的一切都是可用的，因为他们的大量和各种各样的商品在销售。阿多诺说，我们真正想要的东西受到资本主义的阻碍，因此我们只能作为大公司制造欲望的替代品，这些公司的利益是利润，而不是我们的福祉。举个例子，为了成功，我们渴望和需要的一些需求包括幸福、社区意识和联系。广告商通过展示我们想要的东西来利用这些渴望，然后将它们与我们并不真正需要的东西联系起来。因此，当电视上播放一则广告，展示一群朋友在一起欢笑、开玩笑、玩得很开心时，他们都会拿着并喝着卖家最后会敦促我们购买的品牌啤酒。另一个例子可能是通过一个广告来展示人气和地位，该广告显示某人从一辆快车上下来或去参加一个独家活动时受到了很多关注，而事实上，广告主实际上是在销售须后水或香水。通过购买产品，消费者购买的是地位的神话，而不是产品本身的优点。