The Anthropology and Economics of Advertising according to F.W. Taylor

The article analyzes advertising not as a sales tool, but as a cultural institution shaping human customs and identity. Drawing on the thought of Frederic Wilfred Taylor, the author indicates that marketing can transform objects into essential props for social rituals, exemplified by the engagement diamond or the holiday image of Santa Claus. The text discusses the processes of naturalizing marketing constructs and the phenomenon of decoupling price from cost, where the consumer buys symbolic value and the social legibility of emotions instead of a physical product. Using examples of cigarettes and Volkswagen campaigns, it is shown how advertising can normalize risk or redefine prestige through self-irony, thereby becoming a powerful anthropological tool influencing the structure of everyday life.