1. What was your response to The Persuaders video? Do you think this is an accurate assessment of the persuasion industries? Why or why not?
a. My response to The Persuaders video was that it truly developed concepts of advertising, consumer behaviors and consumer culture. It is true that you cannot walk down the streets of New York and not be bombarded by advertising, and I enjoyed watching how the film encompasses that ideal.
b. I think it accurately assessed persuasion industries in that it discussed the way advertising is being adapted for modern society. For example, the persuasion industries are now advertising on television shows and in movies due to increased blocking of commercials. The blocking is attributed to new technologies like DVR and TiVo. FedEx, specifically, advertised in Cast Away and Sierra Mist featured their drink on the Survivor TV show. Absolut also featured their drink on a Sex in the City episode and had influence over the plot of the specific episode in order to bring more attention to the company.
c. Furthermore, it was interesting to learn about the lengths companies go to in order to engage the public. I learned that we must feel like advertising is natural, yet be entertained. We also like feeling empowered by advertising and we like to feel as though we can do anything. I think this was interesting just because how we feel about advertising can be incredibly sub-conscious.
d. All in all, I enjoyed many aspects of the film and thought it did a sufficient job of assessing persuasion industries. One last note is that I loved the emphasis on the idea that everyone is a persuader. It is indeed true that we persuade ourselves to do things or not do things every day and that definitely plays a part in how we view and respond to advertising.
2. How does the film portray social awareness and coolness marketing?
a. Social awareness deals with ads that emphasize individual life needs and worthwhile causes. I believe that the film portrayed social awareness by focusing on the Song company, because Song made conscious efforts to be better for individuals, particularly women. Song was an airline that provided lower fares, organic foods, and more entertainment for its passengers. Flight attendants were hand-picked based on cheeriness for the overall benefit of the consumer. A lot of women have families and benefitted from the lower fares. In addition, a lot of women are health-conscious and would enjoy organic foods. Song acted as socially aware as possible to provide for women and really attracted women by playing to their needs and wants.
b. The film portrayed coolness with its portrayal of the company Starbucks in the movie I am Sam. In the film, Sean Penn works at a Starbucks and, being that he is mentally handicapped, Starbucks gives off the impression of promoting fairness and equal opportunities. Starbucks appears as a hero to the character Sam, because he is not as accepted elsewhere. In this way, Starbucks is cool to viewers. In addition, the company is made “hip” by the simple fact that the brand name appeared in a movie as a character’s workplace.
i. Another example of coolness would be the iPod ads that feature black characters with white iPods dancing to music. This image that iPod created to represent their company definitely is cool. Even an older gentleman from the film said that he thinks about himself as being similar to the image when he listens to his iPod. The image resonates with him because it is “cool” to him, and the same would apply for others like him around America. We associate iPods as being cool, in part, due to the images presented in advertising.
3. How do the practitioners in the film promote commodity fetishism?
a. Commodity advertising is about playing to the heart more than the head and using names as commodities to attract consumers. According to the film, we pay more for items if we consider them to be commodities.
b. BMW is a great example of a commodity fetish, because we associate the BMW with wealth and sophistication. We may choose to buy a BMW solely based on the fact that its name is a commodity. Overall, ad agencies have become commodities.
c. Furthermore, commodity fetishism is about emotionally branding a product. Saturns engaged in commodity fetishism particularly well by truly branding their cars and uniting their car owners. The Saturn creation building brings Saturn-owners into their building for tours, visits and holidays. The commercial that brought everyone together talked about Saturn having old-time values and being about community within their building. People responded to the commercial and came to the creation building of Saturn to embrace that ideal. On the whole, everyone wants community, and everyone wants to feel valued, not only as consumers but as individuals. In general, the car brand Saturn has been emotionally branded by people for offering a sense of community and old-time values and thus made its name a commodity.
d. Nike also emotionally branded their products, especially with cynical consumers. Nike featured transcendents of sports in their ads which brings people together looking back at the past. By bringing up past great sport players, Nike shows the consumer something they can relate to and feel reminiscent about, or even moved.
