Airing Nov 30th at 8:00pm on WNED Buffalo PBS (in Toronto it's Rogers cable channel 61).

FRONTLINE takes an in-depth look at the "persuasion industries" - advertising and public relations. To cut through mass-media clutter and to overcome consumers' growing resistance to their pitches, marketers have developed new ways of integrating their messages deeper into the fabric of our lives, using sophisticated market research techniques to better understand consumers, and turning increasingly to the little-understood techniques of public relations to make sure their messages come from sources we trust. A documentary essay, "The Persuaders" also explores how the culture of marketing has come to shape the way Americans understand the world and themselves, and how the techniques of the persuasion industries have migrated to politics, shaping the way our leaders formulate policy, influence public opinion, make decisions and stay in power.

On the same train of thought, there's an article in this months Wired(Issue 12.11 - November 2004) that covers the Decline of Brandnames, due to the marketers persuaders ongoing effort to saturate the world with their brands.