The Persuaders

1. 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.

Being a communications/advertising major, I am not surprised by the amount of thought and research that goes into an ad campaign. On the other hand, I was not aware of the extensive research that goes into targeting different demographics. I didn't know that advertising played such a large role in the 2004 election. Advertisers were able to use new technologies to use the technique of narrowcasting. Individual voters received different messages based on their personal views. Even people who do not participate in polling or research are still used in demographics. There are other ways for companies to keep track of your interests. For example, if you buy something at a store and give your area code, or if you purchase something on the internet. This film reminded me that advertising is everywhere and reaches everyone, even if you are not aware of it.

2. "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 much as I support advertising and the industry as a whole, I do believe that it is a bit overdone. It is literally impossible to go an entire day without seeing or being influenced by an ad. There are different levels of advertising that people see, but there is definitely no way to get around it. If you live in a city you will not only see more, but also different ads than someone will see in a rural community. Something that is hurting the advertising industry is TiVo, or DVR. This new technology enables TV watchers to pause their shows and later fastfoward through commercials. Although this does somewhat limit the amount of advertising that people see, this just makes the companies work harder. New technologies will eliminate old forms of advertising, but it will also create new ones. I believe that the extreme amount of advertising has created a generation of smarter consumers because people are more aware of what else is on the market. I think that 20 or 30 years ago people would have been more likely to purchase an item based on a catchy jingle.