Watching Art & Copy was sort of strange just one week out the Super Bowl, advertiser’s biggest day.

Blast off.

These multi-million commercials shown during the Super Bowl were full of tongue and cheek jokes, big budget 30-second spots, and celebrities selling items none of them would use. Imagine Charles Barkley pulling up to Taco Bell grabbing the five dollar box of fast food he was shilling, or the 1985 Chicago Bears actually using Boost Mobile as their phone carrier. Perhaps the most honest and forthright spot was Google’s “Parisian Love,” which was beautifully done, yet shown to an audience which probably failed to realize how good it was between the other commercials, tons of beer, and the many chicken wings which were ingested that night.

Much of Art & Copy tries to make sense of a world that barrages people with messages, signals, and other forms of communication that fight for our attention not only during the Super Bowl on Sunday, but the ones we encounter everywhere we go. The film sets out to not only tell the story of those who fuel the ideas but those that are affected by the ideas, when the advertising is done well. Much of the film is spent interviewing those who guided advertising to where it is today. Art & Copy really shines when its guard is let down and it steps out of the glare of the shiny offices of New York and San Francisco and gets down to the uglier truths and the stories behind the stories we all know so well.

Legendary New York adman George Lois at his Manhattan home during filming. (Photo | Chris Glancy)

One of the most important topics covered is the idea that advertising is very much a social science. The ability to understand how people think and their history is a valuable skill in this trade, providing some of the best lines in the film. The idea that advertising is giving people what they don’t have is highly interesting and is often true in a world that implores people to chase their dreams and defines success by labels society places as important. The social aspect of what advertising does both truthfully and untruthfully, plays an important role in the film. Pray tries to show us both sides in a fair way without vilifying the glamor or making the socially conscious seem condescending. It explores ‘why’ as opposed to ‘what’ and that is important in a film that explores the topic of advertising.

Two of the more enjoyable interviews were George Lois and Hal Riney. Both displayed a very no-nonsense; old school perspective on what they did and how they did it. People interviewed in documentaries of this sort often take it a bit too seriously, so it is really appreciated when some of the world’s biggest spinsters stop the jargon and get to brass tacks. The foul-mouthed Lois was a lot like the uncle everyone seems to have that lets you look at Playboy when you are too young. Talking about his upbringing and his controversial Esquire covers, Lois certainly would be a creative you’d love to share a beer with and hear him tell stories all night. Riney also proved to be more than entertaining, providing both social introspective and great stories of Crocker Bank, whose “We’ve Only Just Begun” theme was penned by The Carpenters and went straight to the top of pop music, and the “Morning in America” ads which launched Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign.

The case studies also really stand out. The usual suspects are there, such as Apple’s “1984” advertisement and the Budweiser commercials, which litter the Super Bowl. The most thought provoking case study comes from Nike striking a chord with their “Just Do It” campaign. It not only put the consumer at the forefront, but motivated positive life changes which weren’t even associated with selling their shoes. For all the evils that are associated with advertising, parts like this show that it can be used for positive change and that doing the right thing can be thought provoking, emotionally powerful, and still wildly popular.

Just do it: Doing more than just selling sneakers.

To some extent it takes a bit to get the ball rolling in an otherwise very enjoyable film. While the first third of the film really sets the story in motion, some of it feels a bit forced. The opening story of a young man who works installing billboards in his area, which is explored in a few random cut scenes, fails to be relevant to the main story. One could guess that it is there to put the idea that all advertising jobs happen in large metropolitan cities, but the lack of exploration of that story line sends the exact opposite message. The film also tries too hard to give people the feeling that all agencies in the early days of advertising were like AMC’s “Mad Men.” The short cut to Phyllis Robinson’s photo of her working with a cigarette, “the one year I smoked,” is probably one of the more out of place moments in the film. Both seem a bit contrived and moments like these do more to hurt than help tell the story. Luckily there is more killer than filler when it comes to the story.

The true pleasure comes when you see those moments that show how advertising has changed our culture. Art & Copy provides some perspective in the role of advertising in everyday living; life can be quite different when walking around the mall, the grocer, or a football game you know what is going on behind the ad man’s curtain.

Art & Copy plays Wed. Feb. 17th @ the Naro @ 7:30. Members & Students $7; Everyone Else: $10.