Frontline: The Merchants of Cool
by Barak Goodman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bob Bibb, Christina Aguilera, Douglas Rushkoff, Greg Berlanti, Shaggy 2 DopeDirector: Barak Goodman
Brand: PBS
Producer: Douglas Rushkoff
Producer: Barak Goodman
Producer: David Fanning
Producer: Kimberly Tabor
Producer: Lisel Banker
Producer: Michael Sullivan
Writer: Rachel Dretzin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 55 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-10-04
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
Movie Reviews of Frontline: The Merchants of Cool
Movie Review: Marketing to kids.
Summary: 5 Stars
This film exposes some of the marketing techniques used on young people.
I'm glad to read that another reviewer shows it to his students each year.
Another teacher who showed it to her class was less impressed with the response it received from some students who thought it was dated. There are some more recent documentaries on this issue from the Media Education Foundation, but this Frontline presentation is a good place to start.
I learned in the film The Corporation that some psychologists hired by the corporate world work to achieve a high "nag factor," that is an intense pressuring from kids on parents to purchase particular items for them. The techniques are many, and are constantly used on adults as well. Another related field to marketing is public relations. PR's founder, Edward Bernays, wrote a book called Propaganda, that was utilized by Joseph Goebbels during the rise of fascism. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, boasted that "If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it."
To counter all of this propaganda, I'd suggest the following resources:
Adbusters - Adbusters also offers items for teachers to use in the classroom.
Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel
So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids
New Moon: the Magazine for Girls & Their Dreams This commercial free magazine written by and for girls, includes a lot of insightful comments on media manipulation from the girls.
Teen Voices This magazine is for young women.
Hopefully there will someday be magazines that aren't manipulating boys and young men in the service of corporate interests.
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media This documentary has become something of a movement, inspiring a new level of media criticism and countless efforts to create grassroots media.
Chomsky's work has been a big influence on Amy Goodman of the independent news hour, "Democracy Now!." Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times
Summary of Frontline: The Merchants of Cool
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