The Persuaders Assignment

1. In Douglas Rushkoff's documentary film, "The Persuaders" I was suprised by two things while watching the film. The first one, that suprised me was that people had feelings when they thought about specific products, like bread or coffee. In the film, a person was interviewed by a specialist who asked him if he felt any of these words when eating bread. Such examples were do you feel lonely, depressed, accepting, trusting, or uncertain. The person said no to most of the words, except uncertain which he stated that he did feel a little uncertain when eating bread. Coffee was another example, in the film a question was posed to viewers, Does the brewing(smell) of coffee remind you of your mother? When I have coffee in the morning and smell the freshness of my lovely cup, it doesn't remind of my mother, but maybe it does for some. The second one, that suprised me was that people will buy or agree on certain products if the speaker presents it in a language or word that sends a message.


One thing I learned about advertising from watching the film is when corporations don't make money from their ads because of such examples like Tivo, they try to incorpate their products by putting them in movies and television. For example, in films, like I Am Sam and Cast Away, Starbucks and FedEx were the products used. In television, examples were Sex in the City and Survivor, and their products were a drink called the Absolute Hunk, and Sierra Mist.


One new thing I learned about myself from watching the film is to watch closely when I see a commerical, billboard, or read from a magazine if the product is using a message or telling me something it is, but actually isn't. Advertising is very persuasive and tries to make you buy their product through words and language, I know now that whenever I see an advertisment for a product, that looks good and worth buying, I will ignore it.


2. I would say because I don't live in New York City and live right here in Poughkeepsie, I see an average to a very little amount of advertising. I'm not much of a T.V. person, when I do watch television, I watch Lost and House which both I'm a big fan of. When I go online and watch videos on Youtube or other sites, they always have ads for different products.


In my view, it doesn't make much of a difference to know that people today see much more advertising in their daily lives than people 20 or 30 years ago. Technology has expanded and become more modern and standardized than in the past, 20 or 30 years ago. There are much more newer technology and options to promote advertising and more people are willing to buy a given product, which creates a successful business.