"The Corporation" vs. "The Ad and the Ego"

“The Ad and the Ego goes beyond deconstructing individual advertisements to reveal the economic and political dimensions of living in an advertising infused environment. In our “new world order” of diminishing resources and devastating pollution, this film makes the critical connections between the rise of consumerism, environmental degradation and our blind commitment to economic growth at any cost. It forcefully demonstrates the link between our debased public discourse and a media culture that defines freedom as consumer choice rather than democratic participation.” – The Ad and the Ego web site

Consumerism has always been a significant ideology used by most corporations as it has had a large impact on us, the consumers of products. Corporations have led us to believe that they are helping the people rather than themselves. That is not true. In these two documentary films “The Corporation” and “The Ad and the Ego” we can see and listen to revealed information about the downsides of corporations and the burdens they carry to our environment and society. The documentary “The Corporation” exposed the corporation’s greediness and that even if they hurt the environment or hire underage workers; they are only doing it for their benefit, to make as much money as they possibly can. The other informative documentary, “The Ad and the Ego” helps us understand the media from a different medium, advertisements, and how much we absorb of its information.

Firstly, the documentary titled “The Corporation” showed us watchers and consumers that corporations depend on greed. Without greed in corporations, they would not survive. In order to continue to exist, corporations have to live off of the money that, we the people, buys. A majority of corporations mask their true identities such as the company Coca Cola. During the Nazi Regime, Coca Cola had a positive influence in America as a traditional soda drink for the whole family. The Coca Cola Corporation saw this drink as a way to make large profits so they sold it overseas to Germany. The Coco Cola Company knew that this would make their company look bad so they changed the name to Fanta. Although Fanta was a type of orange soda, the German soldiers were happy as well as the corporations back in America. This documentary also showed how harmful corporations are to people as well as our environment. For example, Kathie Lee Gifford manufactured a clothing line along with Disney that helps children in need. In fact, Gifford did not help any child as she was using child labor in a large number of sweatshops. Workers end up getting paid a lot less than they should and the environment becomes extremely polluted from chemicals that cause cancer. Corporations often see that profit overthrows public health and our natural surroundings which eventually make the public oblivious as to what is really happening with our money.

In the second documentary, “The Ad and the Ego” we clearly see how advertisements affect us as well if our brain really analyzes the advertisements when we are occupied. Advertisements have changed over the past 2 centuries as advertisements were used to give the information about products. When technology and advertisement agencies became more evolved and technical, advertisements were selling more of a lifestyle and attitude. We can clearly see this in any advertisement that is shown on the television such as Visa’s slogan, “It’s anywhere you want to be!”. Most advertisements will make people believe that their life will be completed if they buy their product. In documentary, a man told a couple to look in the mirror for 15 minutes. The research showed that no matter how long the person looked into the mirror, they would always find imperfections about themselves such as acne or frizzy hair. This shows that we are greedy ourselves and that we cannot see ourselves for who we are but what we are not. Products do not make us who we are, they just patch up our imperfections and when you feel perfected, something else will be flawed. Our society believes by adding values such as happiness, sexuality, wealth, beauty etc., to our daily media, that we will live in an ideal world although the message of the media is unrealistic.

After watching “The Corporation” and “The Ad and the Ego”, we can learn the reality of these corporations and although they are helpful to our economy, they are harmful to us people. Every single one of us has probably bought a type of clothing made by an underage worker in a third word country. It is really sad to think that corporations have turned on us and made us feel like the guilty ones. Because of the large corporations, we have no choice but to follow in the footsteps as the consumers. By watching these movies, we can clearly see the downside of corporations.