Why is advertising so powerful?
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About the video: ‘Why is advertising so powerful?’
Professor Orr takes a critical look at the culture of mass advertising. He describes the pioneering work of advertising guru Edward Bernays, nephew of psychologist Sigmund Freud. Bernays helped build the industry on the basis that human beings are driven by base Freudian desires driven by fear. He also believed that the consent of the consumer could and should be manipulated in order to maintain social order. Having evolved with highly sensitized visual capabilities, the effects of Freudian advertising on human beings, especially young people, is that much more pernicious.
Total views: 2,473
Filmed: London, England on 13 May 2006
Credits: Interviewer - Marcus Morrell, Camera and Editor - Marcus Morrell
Copyright © 2006 Big Picture TV
About David Orr
David Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Special Assistant to the President of Oberlin College and a James Marsh Professor at the University of Vermont.
An award-winning scholar, he is renowned for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and ecological design.
Professor Orr is the author of ‘Ecological Literacy’ (1992), ‘The Nature of Design’ (2004) ‘The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics and the Environment in the Age of Terror’ (2004) and “Design on the Edge: The Making of a High Performance Building” (2006).
He is the recipient of a Bioneers Award (2003), a National Conservation Achievement Award by the National Wildlife Federation, a Lyndhurst Prize awarded by the Lyndhurst Foundation “to recognize the educational, cultural, and charitable activities of particular individuals of exceptional talent, character, and moral vision.” He was named “an Environmental Hero for 2004” by Interiors & Sources Magazine.
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