higher brain functions
The best documentary I've seen all year... (In a year when the documentary was supposedly ascendant, fuelled by stunts and rhetoric)... is viewable online with some other exceptional content here:
Frontline: The Persuaders
Douglas Rushkoff investigates modern marketing in 90 minutes. It's a good, scary laugh for the first half, then veers off into really interesting territory when he gets to two interesting characters: Cloiteau Papaille and Frank Luntz. Papaille has taken his psychological work with autistic children and communication barriers to the world of advertising, where he believes he can decipher a reptilian code that belies all the innate instincts of people, deeper than what can be communicated with words. It may sound a little ridiculous, but it was Papaille who years ago advised Cadillac and Hummer to build more aggressive, larger cars - despite knowing full well there was no rational reason for them.
Luntz is the Republican pollster who brought you the wonderful phrases "climate change" to replace "global warming" and "death tax" over "estate tax". Luntz is especially gifted at finding the language that causes emotional reactions in focus groups, which he then pawns off at great cost to politicians, whether or not that language is in fact true.
Then there's the database that's floating out there somewhere with every purchase you've ever made, every car you ever bought, and a resulting demographic niche to match.
This is what it is all about. Perception and control of that perception. The first half is harmless because it's so obvious all the creatives from the big agencies are clueless and insecure. The second half is mortally frightening because you see that some very smart individuals freed of morality are making a killing doing research into finding ways to appeal to our basest instincts. And I really mean base. It's all about the reptile...
Frontline: The Persuaders
Douglas Rushkoff investigates modern marketing in 90 minutes. It's a good, scary laugh for the first half, then veers off into really interesting territory when he gets to two interesting characters: Cloiteau Papaille and Frank Luntz. Papaille has taken his psychological work with autistic children and communication barriers to the world of advertising, where he believes he can decipher a reptilian code that belies all the innate instincts of people, deeper than what can be communicated with words. It may sound a little ridiculous, but it was Papaille who years ago advised Cadillac and Hummer to build more aggressive, larger cars - despite knowing full well there was no rational reason for them.
Luntz is the Republican pollster who brought you the wonderful phrases "climate change" to replace "global warming" and "death tax" over "estate tax". Luntz is especially gifted at finding the language that causes emotional reactions in focus groups, which he then pawns off at great cost to politicians, whether or not that language is in fact true.
Then there's the database that's floating out there somewhere with every purchase you've ever made, every car you ever bought, and a resulting demographic niche to match.
This is what it is all about. Perception and control of that perception. The first half is harmless because it's so obvious all the creatives from the big agencies are clueless and insecure. The second half is mortally frightening because you see that some very smart individuals freed of morality are making a killing doing research into finding ways to appeal to our basest instincts. And I really mean base. It's all about the reptile...
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