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Ads, fads, and consumer culture : advertising's impact on American character and society / Arthur Asa Berger. ; with illustrations by the author.
Lippincott Library HF5823 .B438 2015
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Berger, Arthur Asa, 1933- author, illustrator.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Advertising--United States.
- Advertising.
- United States.
- Popular culture--United States.
- Popular culture.
- Consumer education--United States.
- Consumer education.
- Physical Description:
- xxiii, 249 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- Edition:
- Fifth edition.
- Place of Publication:
- Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, [2015]
- Summary:
- The new, fifth edition of this approachable text draws on both academic and applied perspectives to offer a lively critique of contemporary advertising's effects on American character and culture. Arthur Asa Berger explains how advertising works by employing a psychocultural approach, encouraging readers to mink about advertisements and commercials in more analytical and profound ways. Among the topics he addresses are the role of brands, the problem of self-alienation, and how both relate to consumption. Berger also considers the values and lifestyle and Claritas typologies in marketing. Distinctive chapters examine specific advertisements and commercials from multiple perspectives, including semiotic, psychoanalytic, sociological Marxist, mythic, and feminist analysis. Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture provides an accessible overview of advertising in the United States, spanning issues as diverse as sexuality, politics, market research, consumer culture, and more, helping readers understand the role that advertising has played, and continues to play, in all our lives. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- 1 Advertising in American Society 1
- Advertising as a Puzzlement 1
- Defining Advertising 5
- Advertising Agencies 7
- Max Weber on Religion and Consumer Cultures 9
- Advertising and Politics 10
- A Psycho-Cultural Perspective on Advertising 12
- Running It Up a Flagpole to See If Anyone Salutes 13
- Commercials as Mini-Dramas and Works of Art 15
- Teleculture and the Internet 23
- The Super Bowl 27
- The Global Nature of Advertising Agencies 28
- Conclusion 29
- 2 Consumer Cultures 33
- A Cultural Critique of Advertising 33
- Consumer Cultures Defined 34
- Taste Cultures and Advertising 37
- The Postmodern Perspective 38
- The Problem of Emotions Overcoming Rationality 43
- Consumer Culture and. Privatism 44
- Neiman Marcus and "Couthification" 45
- Needs Are finite, Desires Are Infinite 47
- Are There Pour Consumer Cultures, Not Just One? 49
- National Character and Consumer Cultures 55
- 3 Advertising and the Communication Process 59
- The Lasswell Formula 59
- Focal Points and the Study of Media 61
- Roman Jakobson's Model of the Communication Process 62
- Run It Up a Flagpole 64
- Metaphor and Metonymy 65
- Myth and Marketing 67
- Integrated Marketing Conrmunication 69
- 4 Running It Up a Flagpole to See It Anyone Salutes 73
- Lisa's Morning: A Fiction 73
- Lisa Greatgal's and Johnny Q. Public's Daily Media Diet 74
- Television Viewing and Exposure to Commercials 75
- A Note on "Hauls" 77
- The Price We Pay for "Free" Television 77
- The Illusion of Control 78
- Being a "Branded" Individual 82
- Selling Oneself 87
- Selling One's Body for Brands 89
- The Problem of Self-Alienation 90
- We Can Choose as We Please, but Can We Please as We Please? 91
- The Agony of Choice 93
- Nonadvertising Forms of Advertising 94
- 5 Sexuality and Gender in Advertising 99
- Sex and Gender in Advertising 100
- Sex in Advertising 101
- Sexploitation and Anxiety 107
- The Peach That Became a Prune: A Cautionary Fable 111
- The Pseudopoetic Appeal to the Illiterati 114
- Sex Appeal and Gender Appeal 116
- Sex and the Problem of Clutter 118
- 6 Political Advertising 125
- The Cost of Presidential Campaigns 129
- The Cost of the 2012 Presidential Election 130
- Questions Raised by the Election Campaigns 131
- A Note on the California Campaign for Governor in 2010 132
- The Code of the Commercial (and Other Political Advertising) 133
- The Emotional Basis of Partisan Politics 134
- 7 The Marketing Society 139
- Statistics on Advertising 139
- Mote Comments on the Illusion of Freedom 140
- The Marketing View 142
- The VALS 1 Typology 144
- Using the VALS 1 Typology: A Case Study 147
- VALS 2: A Revision of the VALS 1 Typology 147
- ZIP Codes and Kinds of Consumers 149
- The Claritas Typology 151
- Magazine Choice as an Indicator of Consumer Taste 153
- Types of Teenage Consumers 155
- Blogs and Marketing 158
- A Typology for Everyone in the World 159
- A Comparison of the Different Typologies 161
- A Conclusion to This Discussion in the Form of a Question 163
- 8 Analyzing Print Advertisements or: Six Ways of Looking at a Fidji Perfume Advertisement 167
- Lotman's Contributions to Understanding Texts 167
- What's There to Analyze in an Advertisement? 168
- Analyzing the Fidji Ad 169
- A Semiotic Interpretation of the Fidji. Advertisement 171
- A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement 173
- A Sociological Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement 176
- A Marxist Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement 177
- The Myth Model and the Fidji Advertisement 178
- A Feminist Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement 189
- Conclusion 180
- 9 Analyzing Television Commercials 183
- The Macintosh "1984" Commercial 183
- A Synopsis of the Text 185
- The Background 186
- Testing the "1984" Macintosh Commercial 186
- George Orwell's 1984 and Ridley Scott's "1984" 188
- The Image of the Total Institution 189
- The Prisoners' Boots 189
- The Blond as a Symbol 190
- The Brainwashing Scenario 190
- The Big Brother Figure 191
- The Brainwasher's Message 191
- The Big Explosion 192
- The Inmates' Response 193
- The Macintosh Announcement 193
- The Heroine as Mythic Figure 194
- Psychoanalytic Aspects of the Commercial 195
- The Blond as Mediator 196
- Alienated Proles 197
- The Big Blue 198
- A Clever Marketing Strategy 199
- The "1984" Commercial and a Bit of Scholarly Research 200
- 10 Where Next? 205
- Drug Advertising 205
- Children and Advertising 209
- Battling for People's Attention 211
- Smart Phones, Social Media, and Advertising 211.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9781442241244
- 1442241241
- 9781442241251
- 144224125X
- OCLC:
- 889941159
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