The Persuaders

I watched the Persuaders in its entirety.
On first glance at the program called the Persuaders I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into because well, what is there to know about persuading people into buying a product? All you do is make it sound good for the consumer to buy your product and crush the other competition with your fluent usage of awesome terms that swoon each into their own world of consumerism. As it turns out there is much more to the major I have chosen than I originally thought. When I first declared my major I thought it would be a good idea to chose Advertising and Public Relations because I loved to write and to make people laugh and seeing the utter joy that rolled off of my viewers faces was to me icing on the cake of my success. After watching the Persuaders I realized that Advertising is much more than meets the eye. No one thinks of all the research that goes into making a McDonalds advertisement or how much thought goes into the marketing aspects of each and every Gieco commercial.
The Persuaders begins with just a few simple concepts to "breaking through the clutter". This concept is so true on so many levels. Just look at Times Square. Many don't like to go into Times Square because of the insane amount of advertisements that invade your space from each angle. It is the advertisers job to break through that clutter and know their audience. What is the first thing that comes into your mind when your favorite television sitcom breaks into the commercial for a wholesale item? Of course you think its rigged that all advertisers want is to break into your sub-concious and make all you ever think of be the lovely texture that Wheaties has. Oh but it is so much more than that. The geniuses behind every commercial aren't expecting you to switch over to their insurance company at that moment, they are making it hard to not think of their company 24/7. Take the "Hump Day" commercial for example. They take something that people love right now, maybe it would be youtube videos or vines or social media all in general, and they make a simple funny concept go viral.
That is exactly the concept that the Persuaders put to the test. Every advertiser needs to take the difficult task of breaking through the clutter knowing what their audience likes. Only during SuperBowl do people like commercials. Every other time of the year it is up to the advertiser to know what people like. They hate commercials; it interrupts their favorite shows. And here comes the creative mind of the advertisers. RESEARCH! of each and every one of their customers! How they think, what words to use to make it sound appealing, and form each and every advertisement to each person and their demographics. It is quite interesting how much work goes into customizing each advertisement to each person and the vast majority at the same time. It tells each person that they are first in the world.
But wait, form a Christian perspective, thats totally wrong. We need to have a humble mindset and put others before ourselves at all times. Well isn't that interesting that the simplest of things can convert our minds and ergo our culture and future into thinking everything is for the good of well, me?
We see through the Persuaders how much effort goes into making one 30-second advertisement just to engrave the name of a product or company into maybe even one mind. How much information they have to collect and especially how much information is at hand at any moment in the process is very concerning to me. In the long run this was something that was completely eye- opening for me but something keeps everyone on their toes because the root of all evil is greed isn't it?