The business of the advertiser is to see that we go about our business with some magic spell or tune or slogan throbbing quietly in the background of our minds.

McLuhan frames advertising not as the straightforward delivery of product information but as an environmental, almost subliminal form of influence. The advertiser’s “business” is to implant a repeatable auditory or verbal fragment—jingle, slogan, catchphrase—that continues to “throb” in the mind while one is ostensibly occupied with other tasks. In McLuhan’s media theory, such background effects matter as much as (or more than) explicit messages: they shape attention, desire, and habitual perception by turning everyday consciousness into a receptive field for commercial cues. The quote underscores his broader claim that modern media operate by creating pervasive atmospheres that condition behavior.