In so many ways the film, The Persuaders was very critical and over emphasized the negative thoughts towards advertisements. The film begins by discussing how our society is constantly bombarded by advertising and it is beginning to ruin our culture, becoming a permanent part of peoples everyday lives. Following this argument the film begins to compare consumers to roaches which in part is true. In our culture we will always have consumers. But without those consumers businesses wouldn't continue to thrive. The film continues on to discuss the methods of advertisers and the advertisements they create.
Throughout, the film seems to portray such a negative view on advertisements and those that partake in their creation. To discuss something I found interesting within the film is difficult. Here I am taking this class because I am interested in advertising, I like the creativity and being a part of something so big. Although, here we are watching a film that makes those watching it wonder, " is this class and this film supposed to make me change my mind, by building a negative opinion about advertisements and those that create them?"
Suddenly, within the last 3-5 minutes of this film, the entire mood changes. The narration done by a somewhat monotone young male that sees advertisements as clutter decides that they are in fact not clutter but rather important to our culture and that we as a society in fact benefit from them. If this film was meant to portray the negative associations people have with advertisements and then follow with a contradiction to those associations, it most definitely could have been better accomplished by balancing out the negative and positive aspects more throughout the film.
Unfortunately, all I can say that interested me in this film was its structure. What was the motivation behind stating an opinion and then waiting till the very end of the film to contradict every point made through out the film. If the motive was to provoke thought on the subject it certainly worked. The subject of whether advertisements do more harm than good is rather popular. Papers and books have been written on this topic as well as the creation of this film. Seeing as valid points are made on both ends of the spectrum I believe it is for one to form their own opinion. Here is an interesting website showing both opinions on advertisements:
http://debatewise.org/debates/2938-advertisements-do-more-harm-than-good/
