The article speaks of the power of advertising to create new behavior patterns by influencing the public so that the public doesn't realize it's being influenced.
Advocacy groups like the article's subject learned these tactics from corporations, who have been perfecting these strategies for the past five decades.
All that said, I'm uncertain how this article relates to "Hacker News." I can see a tangential relation by "hacking behavior through habits," but it's a stretch.
The article starts with the following: " A FEW years ago, a self-described “militant liberal” named Val Curtis decided that it was time to save millions of children from death and disease."
Washing hands, brushing teeth, taking a daily multi vitamin = good.
Automatically supersizing meals, buying wedding rings and going to the tanning salon everyday = bad.
All of the above habits were brought to the mainstream by advertisers...kinda scary.