Middle

Teenagers today have more money and independence than ever before. Their lives have become the object of obsessive focus by corporate America. Their tastes, attitudes, and aspirations are sampled and resampled by marketers wielding the latest scientific tools to determine exactly who they are and what they want.

FRONTLINE takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar "persuasion industries" of 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.