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Advertising and Consumerism (7)
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All the Right StuffConnie Littlefield 1997 22 min"I always have a good time. Lots of teenagers hang out at the mall. It's like walking around in a big TV set." Brendan, 13.
All the Right Stuff is about kids, malls, media and money. This video puts the role of youth in today's corporate economy into perspective.
Join Brendan on a tour through the local mall. With two hundred dollars of birthday money in his pocket, he's ready to do some serious spending on music, clothes, and video games.
Teenagers represent a huge and lucrative market for advertisers. They may work in low-paying service sector jobs, but as Brendan says "I pay no rent. My income is one hundred percent disposable."
Intercut with Brendan's shopping trip are interviews with shopkeepers, young people who talk about the pressure on them to consume and to sport all the right logos, and members of the bands Thrush Hermit and Hip Club Groove on how the music and clothing industries target young people.
With poor job prospects and little access to the political process, teens come to see themselves primarily as consumers. It's a self-image marketers are only too happy to encourage and exploit. -
Anything for FameTyler Funk 2023 1 h 24 minIn the ruthless “attention economy” of the Internet, young influencers gamble everything for fame-‘n’-fortune. A startling and timely study of contemporary celebrity, Anything for Fame ventures into the virtual Wild West to profile an ambitious—and reckless—new breed of content creator.
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The Bronswik AffairRobert Awad & André Leduc 1978 23 minThis funny yet serious short film demonstrates the effectiveness of advertising and the marketing machine. Its comic appeal lies in the characters and the absurd situations they find themselves in, but it also shines a harsh light on our tendency towards needless consumerism prompted by a steady flow of commercials.
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Hors-d'oeuvreGerald Potterton , Robert Verrall , … 1960 7 minThis film is a collection of 1-minute cartoons produced by NFB animators for government sponsors. Showcasing a playful selection of animation techniques, the clips include reminders about television programs, traffic safety rules, and admonitions from the Department of Labour.
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PitchmenBarry Greenwald 1985 52 minIf you've ever bought a wonder wallet, a food slicer, a canapé maker, a patty stacker, a miracle brush or a super knife, you may know that the CNE, the Calgary Stampede, and virtually every home show, car show, craft show, fall fair and ploughing match in Canada has at least one thing in common. At hallway intersections and bleacher exits work the second cousins of the carnival barker, the crowd pleasers and teasers, jugglers of people, product and pitch: the point-of-sales professionals known as pitchmen. This documentary looks at the psychology of the impulse sale and provides a view of the world of commerce, salesmanship and advertising at the grass-roots level.
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TV SaleErnie Schmidt 1975 10 minThis animated short is an entertaining and incisive satire on some of the material that is disgorged via the "boob tube." The opening pitch of the television salesman establishes the tone of this pithy film: a solid-state model guarantees high-quality entertainment, and programs are always designed around products, not spectators.
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This Is a Recorded MessageJean-Thomas Bédard 1973 10 minThis experimental animated short takes a critical look at consumerism in a material world. Thousands of cut-out ads are presented in increasingly fragmented, rapid succession. The film's disorienting and hectic pace seeks to interrogate the extent to which seductive advertising is a shockingly strong force in shaping our desires, needs, and lives in contemporary capitalism.
