The Persuaders

The PBS Documentary "The Persuaders" revealed the inner workings of the advertising business, bringing to light a very strange and illogical world. This documentary made me realize the absurdity of America's consumer culture. We live in a world where we are defined by the products we buy. Associations regarding the status and worth of individuals are made by observing the commodities said individuals consume. For this, I blame the advertising industry and their ridiculous obsession with creating a "deep connection" between consumers and the products these advertisers are trying to sell. It is an illogical connection that shouldn't hold true, but it does.

I felt a tiny pang of guilt when I saw the motley crew of Apple customers sitting around the table discussing their affinity towards their product. I could completely see myself there, praising this ridiculous corporation that appeals to me only because they've marketed their computers and ipods and other technologies for the hip, creative crowd - much more me than those ponderous old PC's. I am an example of marketing success, feeling tied to a certain brand for no reason other than good advertising. Now, I won't be giving up my Mac anytime soon, but it got me thinking.

How often does this person-to-brand bond thing actually take place? I used to own a Volkswagen Beetle, before the stupid thing broke down and got turned into scrap metal. I didn't buy this car because of the horsepower or the fuel efficiency or any of that - I bought it for the look, to be the happy little girl driving the happy little car. Apparently I wasn't alone. They had entire Beetle conventions, where people who drove these bugs converged like Trekkies to talk about their cars. (For the record, I never went to one - I saw an internet article and happened to look at it out of sheer curiosity, promise.) The people who went to these conventions weren't brought together through any intellectual connection. Friendships forged there were made of nothing of substance. All that brought these consumers together was the fact that they had fallen for the same marketing scheme. Suckers, all. And none of us are any better.

The idea of the "reptilian brain" seems a little far fetched. I'd like to think that humans have advanced past the point of needing to have the biggest cave or the nicest rock to feel powerful (I'm trying to allude to cavemen here, bear with me), but our cave and rock have become our Hummer and Louis Vuitton. Everyone who can have the best, wants it, because everyone wants to be in the position of power. Advertisers have outsmarted all of us, tapping into our most basic nature, reducing us down to animals. The sad part is, these tactics worked - they've outsmarted all of us, and in doing so, have reduced us down to being nothing more than labels.

In the end of "The Producers," it was said that "noise" was no longer an issue - this abundance of advertising simply blends with everything else in our life, becoming an innate part of it. This film had made me wonder where we would be if advertisers hadn't so successfully woven commodities into our very definitions of self worth. What would be bond over? What food or music or cars or games would we talk about when meeting new people? There would be nothing. We would lose the very means by which we define ourselves and others. America embraces a consumer culture in every sense. We are nothing if not the products that we buy.