Dear FRONTLINE,

Excellent program. It makes me wonder on how all the marketing techniques applied on selling products or selling ideas and ideology deprives us of a part of our free will. This strangely is bringing us to a situation that was well described by George Orwells 1984 where almost everybody in a particuliar social and political system is thinking in a prefabricated way. In 1984: "War is peace", during the last american elections: "Climate changes", "War on terror" and so on.

Even if marketers tell us that we are empowered, this so-called empowerment is bringing us all to think the same way, to consume the same things and make us believe that everything we consume is tailor made.

I am curious to see what relations we could make between this subject and the next program on Wal-Mart.

Mario Bonneville
Montral, Qubec

Dear FRONTLINE,

As a brand and marketing consultant, I found your program to be thought provoking. However, I fear that the more paranoid among your viewers will find much to fear about marketing and advertising due to parts of your program. I offer the following as a counterbalance.

My several decades of experience in this field suggest that:

-to survive in an increasingly competitive world where customers have plenty of choices, companies will place the customer at the top of their organization chart - above the CEO. The more successful companies are already doing so.

-customer beliefs, ideals and values will increasingly 'drive' company initiatives and employees efforts to create value.

-innovation will be shaped by customers values.

-customers values (and needs) will increasingly involve the company and its brands with customers' communities and causes.

-customers enjoy freedom of choice, and get to vote every day with their dollars.

-the key to profitability for most organizations is customer loyalty, where what the brand promises and the customer experiences meets or exceeds the customers expectations.

People are very smart when it comes to how they spend their money. If it were possible for marketers to routinely manipulate them, companies would never lose money or go out of business. Enlightened self-interest on the part of customers combined with freedom to choose competitive products is a powerful antidote to whatever techniques marketers develop. Successful companies align themselves internally and externally to serve their customers best interests. It's that simple.

The political arena, though, seems to operate by different rules. There are no standards for 'truth in political advertising'. The technique of ruthlessly and negatively positioning your opponent seems to be effective. However, aligning your candidate with voter's values also seems to be effective, same as in commercial applications. I'm not sure if customers hold their commercial purchases to a higher standard of performance than voters hold their chosen candidates.

Finally, non-profits are a good example of applying values to attract and energize both employees and volunteers, and to better serve the community.

Ron Strauss
Atlanta, Georgia

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for focusing another segment on the sorry state of affairs in our culture with regard to the ubiquity of advertising; it drives me up the wall daily. I was interested to learn what goes through the heads of some of the highest paid thinkers on the subject and am more convinced than ever that it means little to nothing what they decide. Either way, we are stuck with their thoughts.

But I was disappointed that you failed to address an integral part of the equation - the product being pitched. The reason campaigns like Nike's have a chance to be so effective, the reason these companies create such feelings of affection and devotion, the reason they are so persuasive, is that they make the best running shoes on earth. People who use them know that, yes, there really is a difference between running on Shox and not running on Shox, and it makes our knees feel a little better because of it. People who don't know and hear about them via an ad or, most likely, word of mouth (another neglected concept in tonights show) will agree that, yes, they are indeed a great shoe to run in. Without the inherent usefulness of the product to stimulate a demand for it in the marketplace there can be no long term advantage to accessing the reptilian brain or to using the right words to get a subversive message accross. And it seems to me that a product that can stand on its own, that people use because of its excellence and usefullness, will not offend viewers in its ad campaigns nearly as much as a product that is tedious, redundant, or just plain useless - like the idiotic Song idea.

Orson Cummings
Southampton, New York

Dear FRONTLINE,

Boy, not only does Rapaille have the "code" for all of us, he definately knows the "code" for separating those F500 executives from thier pocketbooks.

I loved the tudor mansion, the tea service by the uniformed maid, the cravat and the accent all zeroing in on reptilian soul of corporate America. And the dead cheese, brilliant!

Carolyn Hodge
San Francisco, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

The scariest part of this program is one that I feel didn't get the attention it deserves. That is the segment covering Frank Luntz, the Republican guru of misspeak and manipulation of public thought. This type of process is nothing new. I worked on a citizen's commission report on the effects of nuclear radiation around the Millstone power plant in CT over 25 years ago, and the Millstone reps were all over the creation of that report, trying to change certain words in order to downplay the results.

What Mr. Luntz does is dishonest. And it's interesting that Luntz's "climate change" term is the term used by the Arctic Climate Change Commision- who is about to release their 4 year study on, you'll excuse me, global warming. This is all about tricking people-making you think black is white. It's one thing when it's done to advertise a product- but when it's done to distort public policy and opinion- it is dangerous and damages our democracy.

Marleen Dutra
Storrs, CT

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for illuminating so many facets of the world of marketing, advertising, and market research. It was a fascinating expose.

I do wish, however, that we could explore the world of public relations in equal measure. PR is so often overshadowed by the "big guns" in the ad agencies. Yet, it is PR that, when crafted well, has the credibility factor that advertising can only dream about. PR is credible. Advertising is not. How many of the news stories you read today originated with a PR firm?

Advertising delivers creativity and ad agency awards. PR delivers bottom line effectiveness for the client. This underrated and underreported medium needs to be understood for what it is -- a better way to build brands and position products than its rich, boistrous cousin, advertising.

I hope you will consider doing a similar investigation on the power of PR.

J.D. Stack
Sacramento, California

Dear FRONTLINE,

Good work! I'm reminded of Jean Kilbourne's compelling series, "Killing Us Softly," in which she challenges/indicts both marketer and consumer regarding gender stereotyping via advertising.

As an college/university instructor of courses in Ethics and Leadership, I am using your fine work as a reference for students.

I believe, ultimately, that advertising/marketing (and the related phenomena of consumerism) presents our global culture with questions about ethics. How much is enough? / To what do we aspire: The Good Life or The Goods Life? / If I Have, and Others Have Not, Should I Care? etc. etc.

Thanks for your work!

Michael Maguire
Madison, Wisconsin

Dear FRONTLINE,

Great documentary! I'm glad people in the mainstream are starting to learn about marketing psychology. What's disturbing is that it works even though most people will say it's nonsense, that they buy products because they are cheap or functional. What happens when the symbols and values that make up a culture are hijacked for profit? We'll find out before the century is over.

Michael Lockhart
Everett, Wa

Dear FRONTLINE,

If we are typical of people in their 70s, it's no wonder that advertisers aren't directing their commercials toward us because for us product loyalty depends entirely on both price and quality, and we're always searching for products and services that are both good and relatively inexpensive.

For example, we are very happy owners of a 2004 Toyota Prius and we have yet to see a commercial advertising it and don't expect to see one because demand so far outstrips supply. Sometimes excellence is self-rewarding.

Mel Roseman
Encino, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

As of Wed. Nov 10, I have not viewed the program. I will see it online Friday when it is available. What I'd like to respond to is what I have observed on your page of opinions from other people.

The first page of emails talked on and on about the "program" you aired, but no one responded to your actual question! So I would like to. I absolutly DESPISE the onslaught of advertising sources that aggressivly invade and intrude on a persons being in all forms. I am not comfortable with the apparent ease which some entities can gather intimate and personal information of ANY kind, dispite their intended uses. A burden is placed upon a person in this culture that THEY must deal with and not the reverse! Unsolicited emails that require the reciever to unsubscribe, reams of printed flyers the reciever must dispose of, hour upon hour of tv and radio commercials that the viewer / listener must react to in some way, obnoxious, invasive telemarketers you need to interact with to stop their unsolicited breach of privacy and last but not least, almost uncontrolled bombardment of fundraisers and political campainers.

Yes this a free capitalistic society, but do we need to be constantly subjected to such aggressive almost predetory, unbridled promtion of captialistic material gain?? One of the basic tenets of advertising is to "convince the consumer to purchase something they really don't need". I find the entire premise as well as the practice of market persusion vile and insulting. Enough is enough!!

Randy Davis
Killingworth, Ct.

Dear FRONTLINE,

People want: 1. Price 2. Truth 3. No B.S....and 4. A Friend for Next Time. Now, trying to predict their moods is like a man trying to figure out a women and a women trying to figure out a man. Moods dictate emotion and you gotta know where to find the right mood for your products emotion. Good luck and keep thinking.

Thanks for the $100,000,00.00 consultation for free...it was inspiring.

Anthony Bianco
Hermitage, PA

Dear FRONTLINE,

While we focus on the lengths to which marketers go to sell goods, services and ideas, we also need to remember that consumers have a responsibility too - thinking. We're not mindless captives of the evil marketer's whims. We have the capacity - and responsibility - to seek out information and think for ourselves. Those that do so are able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

That said, there's no excuse for deliberately lying to sell something. Unfortunately, the definition of 'lying' is in the mind of the beholder.

Lea Pounds
Omaha, NE

Dear FRONTLINE,

Very interesting program. I wanted to share a couple of my thoughts.

I'm often shocked at the amount of loathing that advertisers inspire in our society. Even the most ardent anarchist may have to advertise in order to get people to buy his books or come out and hear him speak. Much of advertising is just this: to let people know about a product.

I myself have just recently entered the world of advertising as a strategic planner (though I'm no Clotaire which is bittersweet) and used to be very anti. However, the following saying has served me well throughout my life: Nothing is evil in itself. There are some very creative, inspiring, and interesting ads out there and I for one am relieved that we are no longer subjected to advertising whose sole purpose was to pound a single message into our heads.

Finally, we are most of us involved in advertising to one degree or another. We either work for a company that advertises or we advertise our own products and services. If you want to make a change in the way the persuasion industry works, start by looking close to home.

Matthew Kelley
Portland, Oregon

Dear FRONTLINE,

One might think a show about persuasion, especially a show about advertising, would have a clear point to make (or to sell). "We're all persuaders?" Come on, Doug. That's your final summation?

This show retread many theories already published by others: Read "AdCult USA," "Branded Nation" or "Living It Up, Our Love Affair With Luxury" by James Twitchell. Or Jon Steel's "Truth, Lies and Advertising." Or even Luke Sullivan's "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This (A Guide To Creating Great Ads)."

As one of the more recent posts here states, so many brands (and their associated ad campaigns) succeed by luck and hard work. Having worked on the Volkswagen ad campaign for the past seven years, I'd agree. Successful persuasion has a lot to do with the subjective. The French consumer researcher, Andy Spade and the Republican strategist struggle equally to define "power words" or find solutions that, in practice, rarely work. Successful persuasion is luck. It is art.

Maybe that's why it's so hard to nail down the truth about advertising and branding.

Timothy Brunelle
Boston, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am the CEO of a company with a product that is beautiful, promotes cooperation and communication, is great fun and at $12.95 per month of unlimited access is a low-cost form of entertainment.

Having created this product and spending millions in that creation, I am faced now with the task of getting consumers to be aware that it exists and what it provides. I'm not interested in fooling, luring or deceptively attracting anybody to try the product, but I seriously want them to be aware of it and make an informed decision about buying it.

If I could magically know which consumers would want to know about this product, and then let them know about it and try it, that is what I would do. I would spare the people who do not want to know about this from the carpet-bombing approach of most advertising campaigns. None of the methods covered in your show allow me to do this except perhaps the most privacy intrusive one represented by Acxiom.

Frontline provides excellent reporting and you've persuaded me to watch every program.

David Bowman
Mesa, Arizona