...The Persuaders

One of the aspects of the documentary that particularly intrigued me was the amount of psychology and investigation of the human psyche that goes into advertising. I mean, it makes sense; you find out the individual aspects and qualities that make a certain demographic want to be loyal to one product regardless of its quality. Usually, it’s the environment that seems to surround the use of the product. Whether the ads exude sophistication or a hip rebirth what it comes back to, (I almost can’t believe I’m saying this) is Ramage’s idea of identity and association over logic. The iPod may not be the most practical of the mp3 generation, but it’s the best advertised. It creates the illusion that by joining the iPod family, you are branding yourself.

There was one thing I guess I found kind of ironic in the documentary though. In much of the time the anchor spent narrating, one of the things stressed was product placement—how in film and culture, just the mere presence of a Coke bottle in a scene can have a huge influence. However, in the short scenes where the anchor is at his desk typing and what not, the camera is often at a highly convenient angle. What do I mean by this? There is a shot where the camera is behind the monitor facing the anchor, and it slowly pans down stopping so that the Apple logo is in a perfect placement. He’s not directly advertising for the company, but it is a subtle little message that he is a “member” of that brand. There are other examples of that throughout the film. It is kind of ironic though. I mean, a lot of the purpose of the film was to inform the audience of marketing techniques and schemes—all the while, the producers ended up doing a little marketing themselves.