The Persuaders

In the film, “the Persuaders”, written and directed by Barak Goodman, Rachel Dretzin and Douglas Rushkoff are analyzing the excessive ways of advertising transform to a source of “clutter” in our lives. It’s clear that every advertisement is selling a product or an idea and the ultimate goal is having the consumers or supporters to buy whatever it is they are selling. In the process of promoting a merchant or an idea, marketing tactics are to flood people with constant reminders through commercials, ad boards, internet ads and many other places wherever people can be reached. As most televisions can record and fast forward the programs now, people tend to skip as many advertisements as they can. While the marketing is not able to reach general populations through the regular commercial, the result is that they start to put the merchandises into the movies and shows people watch. There is always a way to reach people; however, too many repetitive reminders causes annoy and numbness in people. It’s like a husband always has to be yelled at by his wife, eventually, the husband cannot register anything the wife says anymore because of the constant nagging becomes a blurring buzz sound to him.

For the most part, I have to agree with the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, Kevin Roberts says “the consumer is now in total control”. For instance, I can listen to that scaly reptile commercial thousand times but still I would not make a purchase decision just because it continuously showing up on my television screen. It really has to depend on what I, as a consumer, need and what kind of prices entice me. Especially just to make a change for something I already have such as insurance or a appliances, it’s usually too much trouble to go though if you want to make a adjustment or change. As Douglas Rushkoff says in the end of the documentary, "once the market becomes the lens through which we choose to see the world, then there’s no “us" and “them” anymore. We are all persuaders.” It is undeniable how powerful and effective the advertisements could be; however, we, the consumers, should be the controllers and should have the ability to decide what we want to believe in.