A really lovely film in which the question of, what does advertising mean in American, and how has it changed out lives is fleshed out through the eyes of those creating it. The film intersperses statistics about the number of hours television a day the average household takes in, how many commercial satellites are in orbit to provide all that television, and comparisons of the amount of advertising that the average urban dweller consumed in 1970 versus today. The film runs the gamut of major advertisers from Hal Riney to Wieden-Kennedy to Doyle-Dane-Bernbach. Each with their own personality and their own unique approach to connecting a product with a message to reach an individual.
Like most films in the genre of design and creative culture, this one turns naturally to philosophical questions of purpose. The issue of what it means to be a consumer of advertising is breeched with the subtlety of smart sociology, and candor that only inveterate creators of social change have. The film provides the answer that advertising creates a community in which the individual wants to connect with. Or, the person would like to identify their social status with not so much the product, as the other people within that social community.
In addition to the character of advertising the film deals with the identification of the role of television in American life. Wrapping television up with other forms there is also a heavy emphasis on the ever-growing ubiquitous nature of media in the modern world. The fact that advertising does not just sell a product or a life style (VW, Think Small), but creates an emotional connection and gives the consumer a sense of empowerment (Nike, Just Do It). This empowerment is achieved when a likeable human trait, like athleticism and health, works in concert with the goals of a corporate firm. Giving the human trait a face that is likeable on both an emotional level, as well as a financial one.
A recurring theme of many of the interviewees is a sense of fear and lacking. Because of some sort of lacking and fear, the desire to work harder and do something that will astound and surprise people on a grand level is realized through advertising. However this sense of fear is juxtaposed with a sense of love in which the people producing advertising must both love their work, as well as those they work with. This, in return gives the advertising industry a sense of personal connection with reality. In a sense, this gives the corporate identity a point of interaction, positive interaction, with the consumer.
Closing with the words, I think creativity can solve anything, from advertiser George Lois the film gives the sense that advertising is not so much a matter of milking more dollars out of the pocket book of unwitting consumers; rather it is a desire to see social identity and social community work in concert with the capitalist company's desires.
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