Advertising Tactics

Roger's advertising tactics are verbally demonstrated in the opening scene of the film, entitled "Exaggerations" (clip) , as he relays two messages to his secretary, Maggie, as they walk down Madison Avenue.

In the first message, Roger seems to be addressing a business partner of some sort. The dictated letter urges his business associate, Sam, to embrace the world of money and corruption. He also expresses a disbelief in his own statements and actions. Roger is an advertising man but does not take part in believing the “naïve rhetoric he twists to create sales.”[4] This distrust also creates a separation between Roger and the rest of the consumer world. In his second message, which is a dictated letter through Maggie to Gretchen Sabinson, Roger transmits the following message: “Send her a box of candy from Blum’s. Ten Dollars. You know the kind. Each piece wrapped in gold paper. She’ll like that. She’ll think she’s eating money.” Directly after this statement we witness Roger haggle his way into a taxi cab by telling the man waiting for the taxi that his secretary is very ill. The use of artificial tags is a major component of Roger’s “song”. The sick and helpless woman and gold wrapping on the candy for Gretchen are synthetic labels.