The Sales Effort according to Monthly Review...

[RadioRaheem84]

One of the things that the MR school says is a cause for economic post war boom was the Sales effort to counter over production.

Advertising was one industry that moved products from the realm of them being objective use values to subjective intrinsic values. People saw objects as things that would give them fulfilment.

I have not read Monopoly Capital, but I have read a review that says that Sweezy does discuss it.

Anyone know of any other books that dabble into this?

[graymouser]

There was a major article in Monthly Review back in April 2009 that dealt with the sales effort:

http://www.monthlyreview.org/090406-mcchesney-foster-stole-holleman.php

The authors (including Foster and McChesney, the main guys at MR) pretty much acknowledge up front that most of this is developed out in the Baran / Sweezy Monopoly Capital. You could check out some of Foster and McChesney's other works, as they are the main disciples of Sweezy and Baran, but Foster has been focusing mainly on the environment with his recent books, and McChesney on the media. The "sales effort" theory is clearly in McChesney's The Problem of the Media and may also be in his more recent The Political Economy of the Media but they are far from main themes in these books.

TBH, your best bet is probably to read Monopoly Capital and go through the Monthly Review archives. Most of the development of the Sweezy-Baran model has happened in the pages of MR. I haven't really ever gotten deep enough into their economic view to say too much more, as I've mostly followed what Foster's been doing on environmental issues from them lately.