"Although he is no longer a household name, Ernest Dichter was a well-known figure in the Mad Men era of advertising and marketing. Born in Vienna in 1907, Dichter left school at age 14 to support his impoverished family. His father was a failed salesman, and this, combined with his self-image as an outcast due to his red hair, poor athleticism, and Jewish heritage, served as the roots of his lifelong insecurity and belief that all individuals seek, more than anything else, stability and prosperity."
"As a teenager, Dichter worked in his uncle's department store as a window decorator, where he was exposed to and enchanted by the universe of consumer goods. There, he observed the psychic and sexual power that things held over the well-to-do, an experience that would ultimately heavily inform his career as the "father of motivation research." Dichter went on to study at the University of Vienna under several notable scholars, absorbing theories of humanistic psychology and the philosophy of the Viennese Circle."
Ernest Dichter was a prominent figure in mid-20th century American advertising who applied psychoanalytic theory to marketing and advertising. Born in Vienna in 1907, he left school at 14 to support his impoverished family. Early experiences in his uncle's department store revealed the psychic and sexual power of consumer goods. He studied psychology at the University of Vienna, received a Ph.D., and opened a psychoanalytic practice focused on career counseling. He identified links between psychoanalysis and consumer behavior, founding motivation research. Fleeing the Nazis in 1937 with his wife Hedy, he worked in Paris and then moved to New York.
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