Continuing his predilection for exploring the eddies of popular culture, filmmaker Doug Pray (Scratch, Hype!) here examines the history and evolution of American advertising as both a creative endeavor and cultural artifact, along the way interviewing some of the field's most influential minds from the past four decades, including George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney, and others. These are the folks who not only created the revolutionary Volkswagen Beetle spots and Ronald Reagan's “Morning in America” campaigns, but also coined slogans that would become part of our common lexicon, such as “I Want My MTV,” “Where's the Beef?” “Got Milk?” and “Just Do It.” Not surprisingly, these are compelling individuals, with a passion for what they do, and clips of their iconic work provide memorable examples of their power to shape perception. But while Pray offers startling statistics to remind the audience of the pervasiveness of branding and media infiltration into daily life, he never challenges his subjects with obvious questions: Where does the art end and the exploitation begin? When does influence become manipulation? And what are the potential dangers to a society saturated with ads? Still, while this may not be a probing study, Art & Copy does offer an interesting look at the real-life Mad Men (and women) who created some of the greatest hits of salesmanship. DVD extras include deleted scenes and additional interviews. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Axmaker)
Art & Copy
(2009) 89 min. DVD: $24.99 ($44.95 w/PPR). PBS Video. Closed captioned. ISBN: 978-1-60883-225-5. Volume 25, Issue 4
Art & Copy
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