ART & COPY Documentary Review

“ART & COPY is a film about advertising. Not all advertising. It’s about the greatest advertising?”

- Doug Pray, Director of “ART & COPY”

This documentary reveals the work and inspiration that fueled some of the most influential advertisers of our time. These people strongly impacted modern culture and for one reason or another, are virtually unheard of outside of the marketing industry. These people were able to not only grab but also hold the attention of millions of viewers, which in anyone in the business will tell you is no easy task.

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“What's different and perhaps surprising about this movie, is that it isn't about bad advertising, that 98% which so often annoys and disrespects its audience. I didn’t want to make a doc that just trashes trashy advertising. Too easy, too obvious, and why bother? Instead, granted access to a handful of the greatest advertising minds of the last fifty years, I felt it could be a more powerful statement to focus the film only on those rare few who actually moved and inspired our culture with their work.” – Doug Pray

Ever wonder where the phrase “Got Milk?” actually came from? Well “Got Milk?” is an advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of cow’s milk. It was created by ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners in 1993. In the documentary they show the original commercial with interview clips from the people who came up with the phrase and other expert’s feelings towards the ad. “Got Milk?” is one of America’s most popular catchphrases in advertising and has been ever since this commercial first aired back in October of 1993.

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Another groundbreaking commercial is one by fast food restaurant chain Wendy’s. They came up with the catchphrase, “Where’s the beef?” in a television ad in 1984. During the commercial three elderly women stand around an exaggeratedly large hamburger bun topped with a minuscule sized hamburger patty. This prompts one of the ladies to angrily question, “Where’s the beef?” Entertaining commercial which became popular at the time but never truly took off like ‘Got Milk?” had.

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The last commercial I want to talk about from this documentary is an ad by Apple, which is considered to be the most influential and successful commercial in the history of television. “1984” is an American TV commercial which introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer for the first time. The ad initially aired on January 22, 1984 during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. The commercial depicts a woman running with a sledgehammer being chased by masked guards. As countless people march single file into an theater, all dressed the same, and being brain washed the “hero” hurls her hammer towards the screen shattering it. The message of this ad is that this woman (or Macintosh) is saving humanity from conformity and conventionality. As the commercial is ending the words, “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’”

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The film is great for college students aspiring to eventually work in the marketing/advertising industry. Doug Pray dove right into some of the greatest advertisements in the past half-century, most of which were well before my days. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone who enjoys commercials as I do. There is going to be screenings in New York from May 12 - May 16 2010 at The Paley Center for Media. For screening times please visit the ART & COPY website.

http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/screenings/