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This critical introductory text explores the role of advertising in contemporary culture and its connections to larger economic, social and political forces. From an investigation of advertising's crucial function in media economics and our wider capitalist system to a consideration of the people who both make and watch advertising, this insightful text enables students to make sense of advertising's powerful influence as both an economic force and an artistic form; assess the various claims of these two perspectives on advertising; and understand how they challenge and complicate one another. Written in an engaging and accessible style and incorporating a wide range of examples from around the world, the chapters introduce the key concepts, methods and debates needed to analyse and understand advertising.
Equipping students with the skills needed to partake in this lively discourse, the text is an invaluable resource for studying advertising critically. It is essential reading for students of advertising, media studies and communication studies.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Why Study Advertising?.- 2. The History of Advertising: Contexts, Transformations and Continuity.- 3. Analysing Advertisements: Form, Semiotics and Ideology.- 4. Adverting, Capitalism and Ideology.- 5. Advertising Commodities and Commodity Fetishism.- 6. Audiences for Sale: Quantification, Segmentation and Personalisation.- 7. Advertising Agencies: Organisation, Agency and Internal Conflict.- 8. Advertising as Art: From Creativity to Critique.- 9. Empowering Consumers: Engagement, Interpretation and Resistance.- 10. The Politics of Advertising: Capitalism, Resistance and Liberalism.
About the author
Nicholas Holm
Summary
This critical introductory text explores the role of advertising in contemporary culture and its connections to larger economic, social and political forces.
