The Art of Advertising: Selling Products Through Film

The Art of Advertising: Selling Products through Film

When thinking randomly about ads on television or at the theatres, as long as it is presented in some form of film, a few successful ones voluntarily emerge in our minds. Whether they have conquered their places in our memory by means of violence, comedy or any other possible way is a subjective matter. The unquestionable truth is that all of these vending tools have auspiciously achieved their goals. But one has particularly impressed its viewers and still does, predisposing legions of marketing professionals which have been externalizing their allegiance to it through the subsequent films of the gender. The world of publicity had never experienced such a revolution until this absolutely astonishing commercial debuted in the late 80's. And this is Brazil's newspaper Folha de S. Paulo's Hitler advertisement.

Capturing everyone's attention before we know it as the narrator skillfully sets the scene of what appears to be an outstanding head of state by quoting some of his great accomplishments such as: taking the lead of a destroyed nation, recovering its economy and restoring pride back to the people; reducing unemployment rate and increasing both companies' income and the nation's internal production while decreasing inflation; as well as mentioning his accurate taste for painting and music in addition to his youth dreams of becoming an artist; the announcement, supported by dramatic military drums, expresses its breathtaking vocation performing an extremely simple and intelligent technique of slowly moving the camera away from the German FÑŒhrer's newspaper picture, before suddenly revealing the entire frame and, consequently, the monstrous gaze of Adolf Hitler.

This remarkable chef-d'oeuvre by the Brazilian newspaper marvelously approaches the end stating that uncountable lies can be told by saying nothing more than the truth, justifying its concernments about how information should be handled and, evidently, persuading spectators to acquire their information. Successful ideas turned into masterpieces of advertising have proved how powerful they can be. Otherwise, how could an entire nation take part in such a cruel and exterminating regime without the influence of propaganda?