The Persuaders was an incredibly eye-opening film. I had never considered that the information I give to social media and my profile is just a way for adversities to collect information about myself. All of my information is public, and is sold to advertisers. That is the risk we take every time we make an email, go on a search engine, or post a twitter rant.
Some of the most interesting things that were mentioned, to me, was the idea of narrowcasting in politics. While I knew about this earlier, I didn't know that the parties collected information about me before sending out a call or an email. It is incredible to think that politics has become this manipulative.
In addition, I found that the biggest names in marketing were completely out of touch with reality. They were able to stereotype one person (and they said it in a way that was condescending, but hey, they are the biggest names in the field of speech) into a category that was so specific off of one piece of evidence- and most of the time, it was a HUGE stretch. One of the experts mentioned that we have a "reptilian hard bottom"; that consumers had primitive urges when they were being convinced to buy a product- but he had no evidence to back that up.
In the end, the point that resonated with me the most was that political advertisements turn facts into stretches of the truth, a.k.a lies. Much of America, including myself, probably doesn't know what is even true about the policies we vote for. Looking in to policies, like many pro-democracy advocates encourage, will probably lead one to more and more lies. "Democracy dies in Darkness", says the Washington Post- and I couldn't agree more.
Some of the most interesting things that were mentioned, to me, was the idea of narrowcasting in politics. While I knew about this earlier, I didn't know that the parties collected information about me before sending out a call or an email. It is incredible to think that politics has become this manipulative.
In addition, I found that the biggest names in marketing were completely out of touch with reality. They were able to stereotype one person (and they said it in a way that was condescending, but hey, they are the biggest names in the field of speech) into a category that was so specific off of one piece of evidence- and most of the time, it was a HUGE stretch. One of the experts mentioned that we have a "reptilian hard bottom"; that consumers had primitive urges when they were being convinced to buy a product- but he had no evidence to back that up.
In the end, the point that resonated with me the most was that political advertisements turn facts into stretches of the truth, a.k.a lies. Much of America, including myself, probably doesn't know what is even true about the policies we vote for. Looking in to policies, like many pro-democracy advocates encourage, will probably lead one to more and more lies. "Democracy dies in Darkness", says the Washington Post- and I couldn't agree more.
I too agree that it is unnerving how easily we are swayed by advertisements without truly analyzing the truth behind them. I also believe politics have really bled into advertisements, and this is especially true considering the outcome of this election.
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