Frontline: The Persuaders

Frontline: The Persuaders
by Rachel Dretzin, Barak Goodman

Frontline: The Persuaders
List Price: $29.98
Our Price: $24.99
You Save: $4.99 (17%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $14.95 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Director: Barak Goodman, Rachel Dretzin
Cinematographer: Stephen McCarthy
Editor: Pamela Scott Arnold
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS (Direct)

DVD Reviews of Frontline: The Persuaders

DVD Review: The selling of products, brands and politicians.
Summary: 5 Stars

While PBS is often establishment-friendlyAir Wars: The Fight to Reclaim Public Broadcasting, sometimes they take a radical look at the water we fish are swimming in. "The Persuaders" is a revealing look at marketing, and how often our emotions (often subconsciously) play a role in our product purchases. The first part of "The Persuaders" analyzes how we seek things like community and transcendence in our products. Critics like Naomi Klein No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies are interviewed, as well as figures in marketing agencies and a marketing "guru" who seeks to understand the "reptilian" part of our brains. The last part of "The Persuaders" looks into how these marketing techniques have been employed by politicians. Republican public opinion researcher Frank Luntz is interviewed. He has had much success by reframing issues, such as changing the name of the Estate tax to the "Death" tax. Another successful rebranding campaign was to label the war on Iraq the War on Terror War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
Slowly but surely, people do develop an "immunity" to some of these emtionally manipulative psychological operations, especially when consciousness is raised about them.
Here are a couple other related resources to enable our intellectual self-defense from the "persuaders":
The Corporation
Propaganda and the Public Mind
PR! - A Social History of Spin
Adbusters, January/February 2009 Issue
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media
The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain
Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the Onslaught of Marketing & Advertising

DVD Review: Informative and Interesting
Summary: 4 Stars

Thought-provoking and entertaining. I've used this film in undergraduate courses about persuasion. The presentation has accurate content and the presentation is lively. I've enjoyed watching the film multiple times, and my students seem interested.

My only complaint is that one of the case studies is about launching the Song Airline, which didn't work. That case dates the piece.

DVD Review: Advertising...
Summary: 5 Stars

Eye opening. Doesn't offer much in the way of instruction on avoiding the system overload.

DVD Review: Very comprehensive and informative
Summary: 4 Stars

I have just taken both marketing and public relations courses and this doc was both informative and actually entertaining because it breaks down the smoke and mirrors around one of the most pervasive forces in our American culture...the hyper-consumerism fueled by marketing. It also discusses the emotional basis of purchasing decisions and how consumers turn their back on reason when it comes to many purchasing decisions.

DVD Review: Bravo PBS for a non company perspective
Summary: 5 Stars

What's wrong with being bombarded with ads? We'd like to think we are immune and to some extent we are. Frontline goes into depth about the effects of 'persuasion' techniques and what those techniques are. Of course these things are used by our government, political groups, etc. too so it is a far reaching subject. This program is a good reason to support PBS

Description of Frontline: The Persuaders

Frontline examines the "persuasion industries" -- advertising and public relations. To cut through consumers' growing resistance to their pitches, marketers have developed new ways of integrating their messages into the fabric of our lives, using sophisticated market research techniques to better understand consumers and turning to the little-understood techniques of public relations to make sure their messages come from sources we trust.

General DVDs

DVD Video
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Man on Wire ImageMan on Wire
Release date: 2008-12-09; DVD
Best price: $13.37
Price in other shops: $26.98
Blue Planet: Seas of Life (Special Edition) ImageBlue Planet: Seas of Life (Special Edition)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-10-02; DVD
Best price: $17.59
Price in other shops: $59.98
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed ImageExpelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Release date: 2008-10-21; DVD
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: $26.99
Planet Earth & The Blue Planet Seas of Life (Special Collector's Edition) ImagePlanet Earth & The Blue Planet Seas of Life (Special Collector's Edition)
Planet; Release date: 2007-10-02; DVD
Best price: $52.97
Price in other shops: $119.98
The Beales of Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection ImageThe Beales of Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $13.60
Price in other shops: $19.95
A Haunting in Connecticut ImageA Haunting in Connecticut
Release date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $3.53
Price in other shops: $6.99
Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection ImageGrey Gardens - Criterion Collection
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2001-08-14; DVD
Best price: $25.20
Price in other shops: $39.95
Religulous ImageReligulous
Lions Gate; Release date: 2009-02-17; DVD
Best price: $10.20
Price in other shops: $29.95
The BBC Natural History Collection featuring Planet Earth (Planet Earth/ The Blue Planet: Seas of Life Special Edition/ Life of Mammals/ Life of Birds) ImageThe BBC Natural History Collection featuring Planet Earth (Planet Earth/ The Blue Planet: Seas of Life Special Edition/ Life of Mammals/ Life of Birds)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-04-01; DVD
Best price: $85.99
Price in other shops: $199.92
Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series ImagePlanet Earth - The Complete BBC Series
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $19.49
Price in other shops: $79.98
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Super Size Me ImageSuper Size Me
Sony; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops: $9.95
In Debt We Trust ImageIn Debt We Trust
Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $11.34
Price in other shops: $19.95
Sicko (Special Edition) ImageSicko (Special Edition)
MOORE,MICHAEL; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $5.88
Price in other shops: $14.95
Maxed Out ImageMaxed Out
MAXED OUT (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $12.48
Price in other shops: $19.98
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room ImageEnron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM (DVD MOV; Release date: 2006-01-17; DVD
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops: $14.98
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price ImageWal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Release date: 2005-11-15; DVD
Best price: $9.29
Price in other shops: $12.95
The Corporation ImageThe Corporation
MOORE,MICHAEL; Release date: 2005-04-05; DVD
Best price: $17.51
Price in other shops: $29.99
Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America? ImageFrontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
Release date: 2005-10-04; DVD
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops: $29.98
Frontline: Growing Up Online ImageFrontline: Growing Up Online
Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $14.34
Price in other shops: $24.99
Frontline: The Merchants of Cool ImageFrontline: The Merchants of Cool
Release date: 2005-10-04; DVD
Best price: $18.31
Price in other shops: $29.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners