Mara E.
Title: Marketing Expert (See me in Netflix's "Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy")
Marketing and Advertising
Education: Boston University (BFA in Theatre Performance) - New York University (PhD), Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University (MBA)
New York, NY, USA
Biography
Mara Einstein is an internationally recognized expert on deceptive marketing tactics. She is the author or co-editor of eight books, including the forthcoming "Hoodwinked: How marketers use the same tactics as cults" (Prometheus Books, 2025), which has been selected for a coveted book talk at SXSW 2025.
You also might recognize Dr. Einstein from "Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy," the hit documentary on Netflix about overconsumption, marketing, and its impact on society and the planet.
Dr. Einstein speaks to any size group at conferences, companies, non-profits, religious institutions, and universities. She delivers insights that engage audiences using case studies derived from her research and her personal experiences working in the marketing and media industries.
For corporations, Mara provides actionable ideas for how businesses can respond to an ever-changing media and marketing environment.
For communities, Mara engages people on topics affecting their lives from why you shouldn’t pay top dollar to go to college to whether you should donate that extra 5 cents at the supermarket to support the latest charity.
Dr. Einstein has been quoted in numerous publications, including The New York Times, WSJ, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post, and has appeared on The Brian Lehrer Show, The Majority Report, and NPR's Marketplace, among many others. She is a professor at the City University of New York. You can find her on TikTok (26K+ followers) and other socials as @drmaraeinstein
Finally, in addition to "Buy Now," Mara is in production on two additional documentaries that will be released next year.
Passion
Teaching people how marketing is leading them to spend money on things they don't need and may not be able to afford.
Helping marketers do their job better, and maybe even use marketing for good.
Featured Video
I am willing to travel
More than 100 miles
When it comes to payments
I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions
Topics
Best Story
I was sitting on a panel at the Institute for the Future. The rest of the line-up was a band of brothers – trailblazers in the creation of the Internet, dressed in that “I’m wearing jeans and a wrinkled shirt but I have a shit-ton of money” way. I was the only academic among the group of presenters, nestled in Palo Alto, the home of Stanford University and the heart of Silicon Valley.
I explained the online space had become deceptive because it was filled with advertising that didn’t look like advertising. Branded journalism was spiking – like Shell Oil paying for a story about sustainability or Discover Card touting the value of a college education because they want to sell students on credit cards with high-interest rates. These were real “fake news.”
One of my fellow panelists leaned over and whispered, “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. We were trying to create community. We just didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
I leaned back, “You’re still going to hell.”
Origin Story
I started my career on the stage and, well, that didn't pan out as planned.
Today, instead of using someone else's words, I use my own to perform in classrooms and stages around the world.
Example talks
Is Everything a Cult?
This talk sheds light on how digital technology has ushered in the age of the marketing cult, a phenomenon that includes consumer brands, influencers, online coaches, and multilevel marketing.
While brand cults have existed for more than a decade, that term used to apply to a handful of passion products, like Harley Davidson, Apple, or Oprah. Today, the north star for marketers is to reach brand cult status and they use cult tactics to do it.
I introduce the Cult + Marketing Continuum, a powerful framework for understanding the digital marketing landscape. Marketers (and the media that fuel them) may not realize they are using cult tactics, but they are.
Is it a Brand or a Cult?
Brand cults have existed for more than a decade and that term used to apply to a handful of passion products, like Harley Davidson, Apple, or Oprah. Today, the north star for marketers is to reach brand cult status and they use cults tactics to do it. Learn how scarcity marketing, charismatic spokespeople, surreptitious persuasion, and community building are used to manipulate unsuspecting consumers.
Why MLMs Are Everywhere and Why They Shouldn’t Be
Amazon’s LuLaRich was the most watched docuseries on the platform. People couldn’t get enough information about MLMs. Why the obsession? Seems like everyone knows something affected by these companies, either as a consultant or a customer. Protected by regulations put into place in the 1970s, these thinly disguised pyramid schemes have thrived in the age of the gig economy when people are looking for much-needed supplemental income. Learn what MLMs are, how to spot an MLM, and why these companies may be on the decline.
College Marketing 101 for Parents: Get into College without Breaking the Bank…and why colleges don’t want you to know that.
College marketing exploded over the last 15 years in response to millennials aging out of their college years. Suddenly, colleges had chief marketing officers, many of whom came from traditional corporate marketing backgrounds and they brought their toolbox with them. Come away with practical tools for understanding how marketing technology (“martech”) is used to track you and your child, and why you don’t have to pay top dollar to get a great education.
Marketing Straight Talk: You are being marketed to and you don’t even know it.
Most of us hate dealing with advertising. We fast forward through commercials, we hit the “skip ad” button on YouTube, and more than half of us use ad blockers. Learn the ways in which marketers get their messages in front of consumers without their knowing it, everywhere from online to in church. Tactics include branded content, product placement, and sensory marketing.