Buying and Believing - Sri Lankan Advertising and Consumers in a Transnational World

Every day advertising exposes consumers around the world to practices associated with the West, urban life, prosperity, and modernity. At least, that's usually how we think of it. Here Steven Kemper investigates how the Sri Lankan advertising industry uses these practices. Drawing upon fieldwork conducted over thirty years, Kemper shows how executives in Kuala Lumpur and Colombo use their skills as folk ethnographers to domesticate commodities and practices, essentially producing new forms of culture. Addressing many of the most pressing agendas of contemporary anthropology and providing one of the first anthropological perspectives on advertising, "Buying and Believing" presents a groundbreaking account of advertising and consumption that is both transnational and ethnographic.

About the author

Summary

Drawing upon fieldwork conducted over 30 years, the author to this text examines the Sri Lankan advertising industry to show how executives draw on their skills as folk ethnographers to "Sri Lankanize" commodities and practices to make them locally desirable, essentially creating new culture.

Product details

• Authors: Steven Kemper
• Publisher: University Presses
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.05.2001
• EAN: 9780226430416
• ISBN: 978-0-226-43041-6
• No. of pages: 248
• Dimensions: 16 mm x 23 mm x 2 mm
• Weight: 425 g
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Media science; Sri Lanka, Media Studies, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Consumer Behavior, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Media & Communications, Advertising Industry, Consumerism, Sri Lanka (Ceylon)