"Persuasion, in the form of logos, ad campaigns, and the ever-broadening array of activities known as branding, has attained the status of Necessary Evil to many of us. Designers--as we repeatedly tell each other in school, in the studio, and at conferences--are all about function, emotion and progress; persuasion is for shills."

-from here

necessary? perhaps a stretch; i suggest 'assumed to be needed because, since its invention, its necessity & validity has never been questioned, its pertinence to every day life never analyzed - so long as profits remain."

in the wake of the our current (and looming) world economic situational adjust, superfluous activities and practices will begin to reveal themselves, gradually (but temporarily) stealing the limelight from - but then redirecting to - the still-profitable and relevant.

when absolute need begins to take precedence, the facade built by marketing & branding will slowly become useless and irrelevant. when the grip of absolute need is irrefutable, product & service design will realign to the constraints of base human activity while simultaneously prompting an evaluation of the 'need' concept.