Art & Copy

Got creativity? Got manipulation? Got art? Advertising's profound effect on modern culture is unquestionable. Art & Copy takes us inside a powerful, yet surprisingly unknown, industry to reveal the most influential creative forces tapping the zeitgeist of our time. Think of those commercials we can never seem to get out of our heads. Each one is the brain child of an industry typically associated with pandering and manipulation. Is great advertising actually a rare and rebellious accomplishment more akin to --- dare I say it --- art? Beginning in the 1960s, a creative revolution revitalized the advertising industry. Bill Bernbach launched the Volkswagen Beetle, prompting viewers to think small. Dan Wieden coined Just Do It and forever changed the way we motivate ourselves athletically. Phyllis Robinson empowered the me generation with a Clairol tagline. Hal Riney all but insured Reagan's reelection with heart-tugging TV ads. Mary Wells Lawrence reinvented the big bad apple via her love NY campaign. George Lois gave Tommy Hilfiger the makeover of a lifetime, while Cliff Freeman wondered Where's the beef? and Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein asked, Got Milk? Renowned documentary filmmaker Doug Pray (Scratch, Surfwise) intermingles dazzling footage of TV satellites being launched and billboards being erected with some of the most remarkable ad campaigns of all time. Like the talented subjects he profiles, Pray creates a rousing synthesis of art, commerce, and human emotion.