What role does advertising play in American life — good, bad and ugly?

The thing that really stood out to me after watching “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” was the relation society has to marketing. I had never thought of the marketing industry as an industry all based on manipulation and persuasion to get customers to engage in an experience or product. The movie brings up a great question, through implementing product placement how much brand influence is really taking place in our daily activities? Honestly its everywhere and takes place in almost every decision, whether it’s what clothes you wear that day, what you are going to eat, or even what school you are going to attend. I believe that marketing influences our everyday decisions, and I am not sure what America would look like without it. Before watching this movie, I thought that my own relationship with marketing was good, and it did not influence me that much. But after reflecting marketing really does play a big role in decisions I make on a daily basis, primarily food and clothing.

But when thinking about law and relating it to this sort of marketing, it raises the question how can they do this? A new topic that comes up when asking this is the area of neuromarketing. Which is where scientists study brain activity and how the brain reacts to advertising campaigns or commercials and then release the study to marketing agencies. This lets marketers directly target customers motivations, preferences, and decisions. All of which is not well known to the public. I personally think that neuromarketing is crossing a line that should be outlawed. Marketers already know the science of how humas react to colors etc. But when having people get a brain scan to target that impulsive part of the brain to make a purchase it seems like it should not be legal. Ultimately marketing drives consumer economy, job expansions, higher tax revenue for governments, as well as making consumers happy with the products they are getting. So, is it really that bad? Like I had mentioned before I believe there is a barrier that should not be crossed such as neuromarketing but the benefits to marketing almost outweigh the cons.

With society changing to more advanced forms of e-commerce even big tech companies like Amazon have already refined their messaging and services to become the dominant force in the American retail industry. Where now is more convenient to buy goods online than it is to pick them up in person. Big chains such as Walmart and target are starting to adapt to this new change through pick up orders as well as offering bigger discounts or price matches online to compete with huge marketing competitors like amazon. When weighing out all the benefits of marketing mixed with the cons, I do not blame our society for allowing things such as neuromarketing to happen. After all it helps us, and companies develop products that we will use and make our day to day lives easier. With this being said I believe marketing is essential for our economy.