The Medium is the Message

“Advertising is the organized effort to extend and intensify craving — to extend and intensify, that is to say, the workings of that force, which (as all the saints and teachers of all the higher religions have always taught) is the principal cause of suffering and wrong-doing and the greatest obstacle between the human soul and its divine Ground.”

Aldous Huxley

SYNOPSIS

Since the 1940s, commercial advertising agencies have employed complex research methods based on Freudian dynamic psychology to understand human motivations and sell product. Now giant corporations are experimenting with facial recognition to track our emotions. Ad campaigns engineered by the likes of ad giants such as Mcann-Erickson (of Mad Men fame) spoke directly to cultural changes taking place in the country – movements like feminism and the civil rights movement. Sometimes they spoke to attitudes just emerging or already present. Other times, they played significant roles in inspiring them. This found footage film series will address some of the cultural developments unique to the U.S. such as consumerism, gun fetishism, body image, race, and gender roles.

POSSIBLE EPISODES

• FOR THE LOVE OF GUN AND COUNTRY: an episode exploring America’s love affair with guns
• Untitled episode on Race
• Untitled episode on Consumerism
• Untitled episode on Body Image
• Untitled episode on Gender