BBC Documentary
The video was very interesting to see that the advertising strategies that were established in 1929 are still in full use today. Edward Bernays broke all the rules when he convinced women to smoke through one swift move during the Easter parade. He knew that reporters and photographers were going to be there, the perfect free press. By persuading three debutant women to smoke casually during the parade viewed by thousands, he basically persuaded the entire nation to accept that women have a right to smoke just as much as men. The negative side of this was that they only reason for empowering women to smoke was the profit that tobacco companies would gain. Overall, the change in the next few years was positive, when corporations realized they had to change how Americans felt about products. In previous years, Americans only purchased items based on needs, but the ‘need’ purchases did not provide enough profit for the companies. Mass production was slowing down and if purchases weren’t based on ‘desire,’ all of the employees of mass production would lose their employment as well.
In today’s society, almost every product is marketed to individuals based on desires. Even showersoap is marketed as a desire, advertisements saying that you will feel ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’ throughout the evening. Perfumes are not neccessary items, but advertisments today use beautiful women and expensive clothing to create a ‘want’ out of the consumer that purchasing this product will give them this lifestyle, so they run out of the house to get their own bottle.
