The Persuaders

What in "The Persuaders" surprised you (or not)? Name one new thing you learned about marketing or politics from watching the film. Name one new thing you learned about yourself from watching the film, or one thing that the film reiterated about yourself.

In the segment "The Science of Selling" I learned about the codes, or unconscious explanations of why we buy what we buy. I found it particularly interesting that a single word can capture someone's attention, interest and then favor and sell so much better than another word. I liked the example of cheese, being marketed as alive over in European countries, yet here in the United States it was marketable once you considered it "dead" being put in a "body bag"(plastic wrapping) and then placed in the "morgue"(refrigerator). I learned that what one needs is truly disconnected from what one buys and that when asked why you've bought what you've bought, the rationale doesn't make all that much sense.

From watching the film, I kept finding myself nodding in an understanding with a lot of the points that were made. As far as brands being considered colts, I see myself as member to a number of "colts." Products no longer market what they do or how they are the best at doing it, but now emphasize more what the product means. This big idea convinces buyers that you are getting more than quality, you are now belonging to a new community. I personally have a mac and can admit to buying it for just that reason. I also find that whenever I go into New York City, I will end up at a Starbuck's because I think it's fun to fit in with the city stereotype of walking the streets with a Starbuck's coffee in hand!

"The Persuaders" begins by questioning the increase in the amount of advertising we typically encounter in our daily lives. How would you assess the amount of advertising you see? Too much? Too little? Just right? In your view, what difference does it make to know that people today see much more advertising in their daily lives than people 20 or 30 years ago?

As an advertising major I now pay closer attention to the number and content of advertisements I encounter on a daily basis. We absolutely see much more advertising now compared to 20 or 30 years ago and in many different forms. Essentially every medium somehow directly or indirectly advertises brands and products. I can recall watching a segment on E! about celebrities tweeting about products without saying it was an advertisement and they were being paid to do so. It was controversial because so many fans faithfully follow celebrities and trust their brand preferences, but they deserve to know what is a real preference and what is a paid endorsement. As opposed to 20 or 30 years ago, our society has become more materialistic as consumerism has skyrocketed. Naturally if more people are going to keep buying more things that they don't really need, advertising agencies and companies are going to continue advertising more and more. We probably see advertising much more than we should, but personally it has become so discrete we hardly know we see half the advertisements we see.

As an advertising major I look at these ads more with a critical eye and it is amazing that so many attempts are useless but also that so many are truly effective and influential. Advertisements; commercials, billboards, print ads in magazines, direct what we buy, create cultures, and set the bar for social standing. Twenty or thirty years ago I don't think the ads had to be quite as creative and abstract as they are today to stand out amongst the many competitors.