Reptilian Hot Buttons

Marketers, or The Persuaders as Douglas Rushkoff names them, seem a strange bunch.
I can't work out whether or not they believe their own marketing bullshit.
And they seem to live in a moral vacuum.
How's that for sweeping generalisations?!
One's I've seen on TV anyway...
Example:
Some lucrative French marketeer, called Coltaire Rapaille, thinks he's struck upon an original idea (and then quite possibly copywritten it, too) with what he calls 'Reptilian Hot Buttons'. Basically, this concept amounts to using hack Psychoanalytic word associations to trade on people's fears and desires - including young children, which is unethical (seriously, try getting the shit corporations are allowed to do to children past the ethics board at any University).
Still, nothing new in that - pushing people's buttons (but what's so reptilian about desires? They're not that underground or primordial, at all.).
In fact, isn't that what marketers are paid good money for anyway?
It's pretty blunt and obvious and that's why it works.
But the question is, what makes marketers think they are doing something important or revolutionary?
What makes them think their guiding principles are so bold and innovative?
Let alone their actual efforts?
And why 'Reptilian Hot Buttons'?
How about: Septillion Shit Flippers?
That's about the number and nature of marketeers.