One of my favorite movies is Idiocracy (2006). The movie tells the stroy of two ordinary people who are taken into a top secret military hibernation expremint that goes awry, and awaken 500 years in the future. They discover that the world has degenerated into a dystopia, where advertising commercialism and cultural anti-intellectualism take over. There is a uniformly stupid human society who have no individual responsibility or care of consequences.
The film shows the future population with a president who is a former wwf wrestler, all stores are massive cosco warehouses, everyone drinks only sugary sports drinks- no water, the judicial system is completely off kilter, and the more articulate one speaks the more they are ridiculed for being "gay". The movie is really funny, however since I've seen it I frequently notice many strikingly clear links between our culture and the future portrayed in the film.
One similarity that I recently saw was concerning advertising methods. In Idiocracy, commercialism rules the minds of the population. In addition, there is no creativity in the advertising schemes of companies for their products, and they completely dumb down their adds. One vending machine in the movie says "get your super big ass nachos here!" I was reminded of this trend when I recently saw a commercial for Nicorette anti-smoking gum. Here is the link.
Seriously? A suckometer? I just think that this is a good example of an advertising agency completely underestimating the minds of viewers. Despite the plethora of reasons one has to quit smoking, I realize that it can still be a tough sell due to its addictive nature. But there are so many convincing reasons out there to encourage people to quit, and also so many people who already know they would like to quit and are looking for a trustowrthy product that can help them do that. If I were one of them I wouldn't choose Nicorette because "quitting sucks" without it. I would appreciate something a little more convincing and informative such as Nicorette success rates. Or maybe something more encouraging that would get me more motivated to quit.
I know that there are a myriad of witty, informative and creative ads in the media. When I see them I am reminded that the most talented advertisers respect their viewers and seek to earn their business through their respect. Howver when I see dumbed down adds such as Nicorette's, I wonder if this trend of unimaginitive advertising will result in an Idiocracy-like environment for us in our future.
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I can completely agree with you, as I have seen Idiocracy several times. The movie is defiantly an over representation of what the world could become, but it's message can actual be a very informative one. It shows just how much control the media can have over it's viewers. The process of keeping things simple makes it so no one has to think about what they are watching. They can just sit back and agree with the point that what are watching is trying to make. The movie is defiantly an over the top representation, but it also carries a very severe warning.
ReplyDeleteIt seem like thats how it is , the more tv we watch the more stupid we get.By doign this media controls our brains and our everyday actions. Unfortunately many people have become too accostume to the commodities of buying the products adverstized in "stupid" commercials, ignoring sideffects and maybe better products that dont get as much advertisment.
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