CONSUMERISM FILMOGRAPHY Media Room, Addlestone Library (Updated 3-4-10 by Cathy Evans)

The ad and the ego: truth and consequences (1996, 57 min.) VIDEO 2768 This documentary discusses how the market economy has grown to the point that commercialism invades the most intimate aspects of life. Leading media critics show how living in an environment saturated with advertising creates a psychology of need. The history of advertising is traced from the 19th century through today.

Advertising & the end of the world (c. 2002, 40 min.) HF5822 .A48 2002 Focusing directly on the world of commercial images, Sut Jhally asks some basic questions about the cultural messages emanating from this market-based view of the world. Making the connection between society's high- consumption lifestyle and the coming environmental crisis, he forces us to evaluate the physical and material costs of the consumer society and how long we can maintain our present level of production.

Affluenza (c. 1997, 58 min.) VIDEO 2903 This documentary uses personal stories, expert commentary, and historic advertising film clips to illustrate the causes and consequences of consumerism in American society

The beauty backlash (2007, 30 min.) HQ1219 .B43 2007. This program investigates consumer reactions against the idealized images of beauty promoted by TV, movies, and glossy magazines, while exploring the complex relationship between corporate strategy and feminine self-esteem. High-level insights concerning Dove, L'Oreal, and advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi provide a fascinating departure point for a socioeconomic discourse.

Behind the screens: Hollywood goes hypercommercial (c. 2002, 37 min.) Hollywood movies are rapidly becoming vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners, rather than entertainment in their own right. This documentary explores this trend toward "hypercommercialism" through phenomena such as product placement, tie-ins, merchandising and cross-promotions. It combines multiple examples taken directly from the movies with incisive interviews provided by film scholars, cultural critics, political economists, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter.

Big bucks, big pharma (2006, 46 min.) HF5439.D75 B54 2006. This documentary pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created, for capital gain. Focusing on the industry's marketing practices, media scholars and health professionals help viewers understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising glamorizes and normalizes the use of prescription medication, and works in tandem with promotion to doctors. Combined, these industry practices shape how both patients and doctors understand and relate to disease and treatment.

Cola wars: message in a bottle (2005, 50 min.) HD9349.S634 C632 2005. What happens when the world's biggest brand collides with the world's largest religion? This program examines how brand identity is influenced by consumer perception through the struggle between Coca-Cola, icon of American culture, and rivals Qibla Cola and Mecca Cola for market share in Muslim locales.

Consuming kids: the commercialization of childhood (c. 2008, 67 min.) HF5415.32 .C6 2008. Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children's advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of child marketing in the wake of deregulation, showing how youth marketers have used the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to transform American children into one of the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world.

The 11th hour (2008, 132 min.) GF75 .E44 2008 This informative primer explores the indelible footprint that humans have left on this planet, and the catastrophic effects of environmental neglect and abuse, and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity.

Escape from Affluenza, (c1998, 55 min.) VIDEO 2904 Taking off where the documentary Affluenza ends, this television production shows ways individuals are combating consumerism and 'affluenza,' including the voluntary simplicity movement.

The famine within (c1990, 55 min.) VIDEO 2917 Influenced by the coercive powers of consumerism and the mass media, North American women have come to judge their bodies according to the unrealistic standards of our culture's beauty ideal. The ultra-lean silhouette of the fashion mannequin and the manipulated image of the magazine model have become not only physical standards, but also symbols of competence and success. In pursuit of this simulated, body-centered ideal, many women are laying waste to their energies and self-esteem, and going on to develop the serious eating disorders bulimia and anorexia.

Food, Inc (c. 2009, 91 min.) HD9005 .F643 2009. This documentary lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing how our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profits ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. It reveals surprising -- and often shocking -- truths about what we eat, how it's produced and who we have become as a nation.

I'll buy that! (c.1985. 26 min.) HF5415 .I66 1988. This documentary examines the growing role of psychological testing and behavioral analysis in marketing and advertising.

In brands we trust (c. 2003, 52 min.) HF6161 .B4 I537 2003 What is a brand? Is it a product, a company, an advertising campaign, or a myth? And how did branding evolve into a global shadow force that packages lifestyles, commodifies personal values, and stands in for cornerstone cultural institutions? Does branding substitute for a lost sense of community? This provocative documentary addresses the concept of branding, its history, its impact on youth, as well as key visionaries, and the convergence of brands and culture. A significant backlash against branding is also discussed.

Is Wal-Mart good for America? Frontline (2005, 60 min.) HF5429.215.U6 I8 2005 This documentary examines Wal-Mart's importation of Chinese goods into the United States. It discusses that while some economists credit Wal-Mart's focus on low costs with helping contain U.S. inflation, others charge that the company is the main force driving the massive overseas shift to China in the production of American consumer goods, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and a lower standard of living in the U.S.

It's a mall world (2006, 47 min.) HF5430 .I87 2006 An ideal discussion-launcher for sociology courses, this program examines cultural and psychological aspects of what is now an archetypal suburban experience: shopping at the mall. Visiting "cathedrals of consumerism" throughout North America, the video raises fundamental questions about consumer identity and diversity. Evoking "experience retail" as a conceptual counterpoint to Internet-driven home shopping, the program also catalyzes inquiry into the relationship between economics, architecture, and human interaction.

Made in L.A. (Hecho en Los Angeles (2007) HD2339.U6 M33 2007. Through a groundbreaking law suit and consumer boycott, three Latina garment workers fight to establish an important legal and moral precedent holding an American retailer liable for the labor conditions under which its products are manufactured. The documentary provides an insider's view into both the struggles of recent immigrants and into the organizing process itself: the enthusiasm, discouragement, hard-won victories and ultimate self-empowerment.

Maquilapolis (City of factories) (2006, 68 min.) HD6101.Z6 T55 2006. This documentary explores the environmental devastation and urban chaos of Tijuana's assembly factories and the female laborers who have organized themselves for social action. Maquiladora workers produce televisions, electrical cables, toys, clothes, batteries and IV tubes, they weave the very fabric of life for consumer nations. They also confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos -- life on the frontier of the global economy.

Maxed out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders (c. 2006, 87 min.) HG1643 .M394 2007. When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality—America is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. Maxed Out takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. It shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer.

No logo: brands, globalization, resistance (2003, 42 min.) HD2755.5 .N625 2003 Using hundreds of media examples, this documentary shows how the commercial takeover of public space, destruction of consumer choice, and replacement of real jobs with temporary work (the dynamics of corporate globalization) impact everyone, everywhere. It also draws attention to the democratic resistance arising globally to challenge the hegemony of brands.

The overspent American: why we want what we don't need (2004, 33 min.) HF5415.33.U6 S361 2003 In this powerful documentary, Juliet Schor scrutinizes "the new consumerism," a national phenomenon of upscale spending that is shaped and reinforced by a commercially-driven media system. The filmmaker argues that middle and upper-middle class Americans become burdened with debilitating debt as they seek to emulate materialistic television show lifestyles. Drawing on her academic research, Schor explains the cultural forces that cause Americans to work longer hours and spend more than they can afford in order to participate in a consumption competition with others. She illustrates how an increasing number of products are being used as social communicators to demonstrate material success. The documentary also raises serious questions about the costs (both financial and societal) of relentlessly searching for happiness and identity through consumption.

The 30 second seduction: a Consumer Reports special on television advertising (c.1985, 28 min.) VIDEO 2839 This program investigates television commercials - thirty seconds' worth of someone's creative ideas on how to capture the viewer's attention and arouse the viewer's imagination. It emphasizes that commercials talk about everything except the merits of the product being advertised.

Still killing us softly: advertising's image of women (c.1987, 32 min.) HF5822 .K539 1987 This is a discussion of the manner in which women continue to be portrayed by advertising and the effects this has on women, men, and children and their images of themselves.

Still killing us softly 3 (2000, 34 min.) HF5822 .K54 2000 Jean Kilbourne continues her groundbreaking analysis of advertising's depiction of women in this update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series. In fascinating detail, Kilbourne decodes an array of print and television advertisements to reveal a pattern of disturbing and destructive gender stereotypes. Her analysis challenges us to consider the relationship between advertising and broader issues of culture, identity, sexism, and gender violence. Also included is a bonus 25-minute interview with Jean Kilbourne. Sections of the documentary include: Does the beauty ideal still tyrannize women? Does advertising still objectify women's bodies? Are the twin themes of liberation and weight control still linked? Is sexuality still presented as women's main concern? Are young girls still sexualized? Are grown women infantilized? Are images of male violence against women still used to sell products?

The Uses of media (c.1988, 26 min.) VIDEO 2169 This documentary examines the impact of television on the way we see ourselves as a society and explores the subliminal messages television communicates and how they influence viewers.