Old Paper, New Spin

It all started with the film, The Persuaders. This film opened my eyes to different marketing methods and introduced me to a world that I knew existed but never came in direct contact with. I remember leaving class after the first day of watching the film and feeling like I was being watched as I walked to lunch on the other side of campus. I thought, Will someone be watching what I eat from a far and then trying to see it to me the next time I go to the mall? This film was both disturbing and disgusting to me because I wanted nothing to do with material good or the scheme that seemed to be run on every person in America, but at the same time I could not avoid the traps that had been set.

What was extremely interesting to me was the idea of emotional attachment to material goods. At one point in the film, Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising says, “What consumers want now is an emotional connection—they want to be able to connect with what's behind the brand, what's behind the promise" (Persuaders). The concept seemed strange when said in so many words but when Douglas Atkin, a partner at an advertising agency, conducts surveys with “loyalists” of certain brands like Saturn and Apple, the once strange idea becomes inherently true. Douglas Atkin made it apparent that these particular car owners feel like they are a part of the “Saturn family”. I find this concept interesting because this is the way society really functions. One of our class discussions focused on how we may feel like a part of the ad for the item that we are buying. Take an ipod for example (as we did); those dancing shadows in the colorful ads become us…or do we become them the minute we buy the electronic item? http://youtube.com/watch?v=yfE3Ci55ifQ&feature=related

Consumers, which are basically everyone, are all targets of consumer marketing strategies and everything on the market today had succeeded in emptying our pockets before they are even full.

Edward Bernays’ Manipulating Public Opinion : The Why and the How (1928), explained how certain people view society and basically a clay that can be shaped and molded into whatever is desired, when armed with proper technique. Some would say that Bernays is unethical because he believes that, “propaganda is a good thing – a necessary intervention in the communicative chaos of modern life, a service to the public that helps them interpret and act in a confusing world” (51). When contemplating this particular article the reader must bear in mind that Edward L. Bernays was the nephew of Sigmund Freud. This comes as no surprise when you read the part about the many hats being worn.
Bernays supported the idea that psychology should be used to sway the emotions of public opinion (52). He uses many statistics to construct his “propaganda”. He marketed hats by figuring out that there were six types. He in turn used these hats in a fashion show and placed them on the heads of beautiful girls. Needless to say, the sales in hats went up by manipulating the setting that the hats were placed in. I feel that Bernays is somewhat of a genius although I absolutely resent this fact because I do not appreciate being toyed with. I find myself wondering if I would even know when I am being toyed with because I too fall in to the trap of buying rags worn by models (often called dresses).