The title of this spot.com.mentary installment is that of a seminal book by Vance Packard. Released in 1957, The Hidden Persuaders contended that a significant percentage of advertising was insidiously manipulative, deploying consumer motivational research and other psychological techniques, including subliminal messaging. “Many of us are being influenced and manipulated, far more than we realize, in the patterns of our everyday lives,” wrote Packard who passed away in Dec. 1996. He compared motivational research to “the chilling world of George Orwell and his Big Brother.”
The Hidden Persuaders was on The New York Times bestseller list for a full year. It was both praised and criticized, the latter coming primarily from the ad industry which claimed that motivational research helped advertisers and marketers better serve the public at large. Ad biz leaders denied the use of subliminal communication in the peddling of products and services.
But Packard stuck to his guns, particularly concerned over how politicians were being promoted to the electorate through unscrupulous marketing and advertising.
Now more than 50 years later, Packard’s concerns have been fueled further by a new generation of hidden persuaders spawned by the 2010 Supreme Court ruling dubbed Citizens United. The high court decision cleared the way for companies, unions and other special interest groups to spend unlimited funds to try to influence elections, often using money from anonymous donors.
According to an Associated Press report, independent groups that did not disclose the identity of their donors spent $132.5 million to influence elections nationwide last year, accounting for about one-third of all spending by outside groups in the 2010 election cycle. Anonymous or unlimited corporate spending represented 15% of all federal political spending in 2010. Such spending amounted to some $85 million in Senate races, $40 million of which went to the 10 most expensive contests. Ads paid for by groups soliciting anonymous donors were more likely to be negative than those paid for by groups that disclosed donors.
Groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees took advantage of the new rules, spending tens of millions of dollars on campaign ads in races across the U.S. Other groups formed expressly to make use of the new rules spent big bucks as well.
However, heavy spending by groups under the Citizens United ruling did not ensure victory. In three of the most expensive Senate races, candidates won despite heavy Citizens United-spawned spending directed against them.
The Supreme Court decision was based on freedom of speech protection for corporations. I’m all for freedom of speech, as long as I know who’s speaking.
In mainstream advertising, the public knows who’s behind an ad and can judge those brands and their messages accordingly, with people making their buying decisions as they see fit. Even the most manipulative ads critiqued by Packard had a readily identifiable advertiser. Now what’s “hidden” in the political ad arena extends all the way to the sponsors themselves.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More