In "The Hard Sell: Advertising in America," Bill Bryson's main point is that the concept of advertising has changed radically, particularly over the course of the twentieth century. Whereas the original point of advertising was simply to broadcast information, the aim now is to persuade the consumer that s/he needs the product at all costs.

Bryson quotes an early advertisement which simply reads "Jos. Parker, Hatter." This conveys the information that, if you need a hat, Jos. Parker has them, and may be able to provide you with one. It does not attempt to persuade the consumer that Jos. Parker's hats are better than any other hats, or that buying one of these hats will improve their life. This is what a contemporary advertisement would attempt to do, and it would employ modern methods to do it. These include the use of a memorable (though possibly meaningless) slogan, branding, and the exploitation of the consumer's anxiety.

Bryson uses the example of King Gillette, inventor of the safety razor, to explore the advertiser's use of anxiety. Gillette would proclaim that his razor banished the danger of skin diseases and other problems, thereby suggesting that those who used other razors were not so safe. Such tactics are now common in advertising. Gillette created a trusted brand, a concept which became central to advertising over the course of the twentieth century. Paradoxically, some brands became so successful that they lost their trademark protection by becoming a generic name for the item. Brand names like Thermos and Tannoy came to mean the same as vacuum flask and public address system. The importance of branding increased as advertising became more visual and dynamic, and advertising budgets grew with the rise of television.