The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
This movie demonstrated how marketing is very powerful in society and marketing even has the power to break laws sometimes. “Mr. Spurlock said advertising had become so ubiquitous in films and life in general that people often failed to notice it”(Carr 2011). I agree with this because people are constantly surrounded by advertisements all of the time on social media, on websites, TV, radio, billboards, magazines, newspapers, and more. This opened my eyes to product placement, which I view in all movies and tv shows unintentionally. “The business model of product placement — in which studios and television networks defray their costs by highlighting products on-screen in exchange for money or their free use — is a fact of life in Hollywood. And it’s nothing new: Jules Verne sold naming rights to the shipping companies in “Around the World in 80 Days,” and at the birth of films, Thomas Edison put ads for his own products in his creations”(Carr 2011). I was unaware that product placement existed for such a long time, which can also contribute to why people may not even notice it anymore.
On social media advertisements and influencers just pop up out of nowhere to distract us from what we are doing and persuade us to click on them to get more information. Marketing and advertisements can be personalized for individuals based on what is known about them. They can also get data on people and based on characteristics like age and gender, your devices customize which advertisements you see by estimating what appeals to you. I believe that some organizations are always spying on us and invading our privacy to show us advertisements that tailored us. Even if an advertisement doesn't make you click it right away, if you keep seeing it pop up over and over again you will eventually fall for it. Many people are easily influenced by advertisements. My mom for example orders things all the time that pop up on her social media like clothing or household items that she sees and are readily available on sites like Amazon. It can be nice to see advertisements that interest us, it just feels uncomfortable knowing that there are data profiles and the advertisements that people receive are so intentionally for them.
The way that different people see different information through targeted advertisements can be harmful to society. If everyone sees different messages based on their characteristics, this can cause divides due to different beliefs and perceptions caused by these advertisements. Advertisements can also create unhealthy relationships with their viewers because most of the time advertisements are known to be heavily photoshopped and exaggerate reality. This relates to issues with people having a poor body image or even unrealistic expectations that can negatively affect their mental health.
There are advertisement blockers that people can use but people need to download them and remember to turn them on, which is a lot of effort. Private searches make people feel that they are protected, however, their information is still tracked. When going on private mode, it just doesn’t save the history on your device. This is very misleading.
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