Advertising: The Real Enemy?

That implacable leaper at conclusions, British Historian Arnold Toynbee, 72, now trains his erudition on a new target. He calls it "Madison Avenue"—by which he means not only U.S. advertising, but also the affluent society and much of U.S. business philosophy. In a remarkable, just published pamphlet—based on a speech delivered at Williamsburg, Va., in June—Professor Toynbee roundly condemns "Madison Avenue" as un-Christian and basically unAmerican.

"In the Western world of our day," says Toynbee, "the tempter's role is being played by everything we sum up under the name of Madison Avenue....