Persuaders

2. The persuaders begin the video by saying that we encounter advertising more today then in the past. In my opinion this is true and the amount we see every day has increasingly gotten worse. We see advertising every where we go, on television, buildings, taxis, buses, billboards, in movies, and many others. Douglas Rushkoff described New York City a wonderful city when he was growing up but now he feels like a pinball in a pinball machine when he is in Time Square today. There is too much advertising today and it seems like companies don't know when to stop and are not going to stop even if they are losing profits because if they don't advertise then they will essentially disappear.
It makes a huge difference that people today see tremendous amounts of advertisements today then 20 or 30 years ago because what does that say about the future? What is going to happen 20 or 30 years from now? If advertising has increased this much over the past few decades then in the decades to come there is going to be advertising every place imaginable. I feel like with all of this advertisement around people are more heavily influenced by it. If the models and celebrities are buying these products and happy with them, then people are going to go out and buy them regardless their budget and regardless the price of the merchandise. People were more heavily influenced by their family and friends years ago and hopefully as advertising becomes even more popular, people will still look to their friends and family first to make sure that they are making good purchases.
3. It surprised me about the amount of information marketers have on their potential clients. They know the clients demographic, their interests, what issues they would feel most strongly about in a voting process. There is so much information out there for a marketer that it is getting easier and easier to sell products to potential customers. When people enter contests, get discounts, or a new cell phone, people don't think about where their information is going.
After watching this video, I am nervous to share my personal information when ordering products or entering contests because once your information is out there, there is no getting it back. The companies as well as being vulnerable to identity theft can get your information and exploit you because they believe that they can sell you anything. Other information such as music and favorite movies are more easily available to companies because of the social networks out there such as facebook and twitter.
Personal information such as address, earnings, medications and other personal information I would want to be private because I would not want marketers to know everything about me. Also if these places knew everything about you then there would be no point in shopping at all. We can just give companies our information and wait at home until they send us products that they think we are going to like. There would be no need for advertising or other expenses, they can just deliver products and "shopping" would become extinct. I feel that advertising and marketers should become less involved in customers lives and let the customers get what they want, not what companies are trying to sell to people. But rather what people want to buy from companies.