Yesterday I caught the film Art & Copy by Doug Pray, his latest documentary in a career dissecting underground art forms that end up heavily influencing mainstream culture. But unlike his previous films (Surfwise, Scratch, Hype!), Art & Copy is about one of the most mainstream and pervasive forms of art there is: advertising. The film excels by interviewing and getting a first-person perspective from some of advertising’s biggest heavyweights of the last 50 years, including George Lois (he of the famed 60s Esquire Magazine covers), Mary Wells, Dan Wieden and David Kennedy (of Wieden+Kennedy), Lee Clow and the legendary Hal Riney. As they write: “Art & Copy reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time. People who’ve profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising’s “creative revolution” of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation.” Not only are the “artists” themselves featured, but Pray does a nice job of highlighting some of their most famous campaigns, — and underscoring the massive cultural impact some of them had. Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?”, Nike’s “Just Do It”, “I Love NY”, “Got Milk” (above), Apple’s “Think Different”, the Budweiser frogs, etc. There’s no critical look at advertising or its affects, however, so if you’re looking for something that skewers the negative impact of advertising on our culture look elsewhere — Art & Copy is more respectful ode than deconstruction.