Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture : Advertising's Impact on American Character and Society

by Berger, Arthur Asa

• ISBN13: 9780742554443
• ISBN10: 0742554449
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-03-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Summary

Now in its third edition, the popular Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture is an engaging cultural studies critique of advertising and its impacts on American society. Arthur Asa Berger looks at marketing strategies, sex and advertising, consumer culture, political advertising, and communication theory and process to give an accessible overview of advertising in America. The new edition features updated examples and new theoretical material, including expanded discussions on critical analysis methods, sexuality in advertising, global advertising, and neuromarketing.

Author Biography

Arthur Asa Berger is professor emeritus of broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Preface to the Third Edition	p. xv
Preface to the Second Edition	p. xix
Acknowledgments	p. xxv
Advertising in American Society	p. 1
Advertising as a Puzzlement	p. 1
Defining Advertising	p. 4
Advertising Agencies	p. 11
A Psycho-Cultural Perspective on Advertising	p. 13
Running It Up a Flagpole to See If Anyone Salutes	p. 14
Commercials as Mini-Dramas and Works of Art	p. 16
Teleculture	p. 21
The Super Bowl	p. 24
Conclusion	p. 26
Consumer Cultures	p. 29
A Cultural Critique of Advertising	p. 29
Consumer Cultures Defined	p. 31
Taste Cultures and Advertising	p. 33
The Postmodern Perspective	p. 34
Consumer Culture and Privatism	p. 37
Neiman Marcus and "Couthification"	p. 37
Needs Are Finite, Desires Are Infinite	p. 39
Mimetic Desire	p. 41
Are There Four Consumer Cultures, Not Just One?	p. 42
Classified Advertising	p. 47
Advertising and the Communication Process	p. 51
The Lasswell Formula	p. 51
Focal Points and the Study of Media	p. 52
The Lasswell Formula and Focal Points	p. 54
A Problem with the Lasswell Formula	p. 54
Metaphor and Metonymy	p. 57
Running It Up a Flagpole to See If Anyone Salutes	p. 61
Lisa's Morning: A Fiction	p. 61
Lisa Greatgal's and Johnny Q. Public's Daily Media Diet	p. 62
Television Viewing and Exposure to Commercials	p. 63
Our All-Consuming Passion for Consuming	p. 66
The Price We Pay for "Free" Television	p. 66
The Illusion of Control	p. 66
Being a "Branded Individual"	p. 70
Selling Oneself	p. 74
The Problem of Self-Alienation	p. 75
We Can Choose as We Please, but Can We Please as We Please?	p. 77
The Agony of Choice	p. 79
Non-Advertising Forms of Advertising	p. 80
Sexuality and Advertising	p. 83
Sex in Advertising	p. 84
Sexploitation and Anxiety	p. 86
The Peach That Became a Prune: A Cautionary Fable	p. 89
The Pseudo-Poetic Appeal to the Illiterati	p. 91
Sex Sells Cigarettes	p. 93
The Case of Joe Camel	p. 93
Sex and the Problem of Clutter	p. 95
Political Advertising	p. 99
Kinds of Political Advertisements	p. 101
The 1998 California Primary: A "Virtual" Campaign for Governor	p. 103
Questions Raised by the "Virtual" Campaign	p. 104
The 2002 California Campaign for Governor	p. 106
The Code of the Commercial (and Other Political Advertising)	p. 107
The Emotional Basis of Partisan Politics	p. 109
The Death of the Tobacco Bill	p. 110
The Marketing Society	p. 113
Statistics on Advertising	p. 113
More Comments on the Illusion of Freedom	p. 114
The Marketing View	p. 116
The VALS 1 Typology	p. 117
Using the VALS 1 Typology: A Case Study	p. 120
VALS 2: A Revision of the VALS 1 Typology	p. 120
Zip Codes and Kinds of Consumers	p. 122
The Claritas Typology	p. 125
Magazine Choice as an Indicator of Consumer Taste	p. 127
Types of Teenage Consumers	p. 128
Blogs and Marketing	p. 131
A Typology for Everyone in the World	p. 132
A Comparison of the Different Typologies	p. 134
A Conclusion in the Form of a Question	p. 135
Analyzing Print Advertisements: Or: Six Ways of Looking at a Fidji Perfume Advertisement	p. 137
Lotman's Contributions to Understanding Texts	p. 137
What's There to Analyze in an Advertisement?	p. 138
Analyzing the Fidji Ad	p. 140
A Semiotic Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	p. 141
A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	p. 144
A Sociological Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	p. 146
A Marxist Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	p. 147
The Myth Model and the Fidji Advertisement	p. 148
A Feminist Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	p. 150
Analyzing Television Commercials: The Macintosh "1984" Commercial	p. 153
A Synopsis of the Text	p. 155
The Background	p. 157
George Orwell's 1984 and Ridley Scott's "1984"	p. 158
The Image of the Total Institution	p. 159
The Prisoners' Boots	p. 160
The Blond as Symbol	p. 160
The Brainwashing Scenario	p. 161
The Big Brother Figure	p. 161
The Brainwasher's Message	p. 162
The Big Explosion	p. 163
The Inmates' Response	p. 164
The Macintosh Announcement	p. 164
The Heroine as Mythic Figure	p. 165
Psychoanalytic Aspects of the Commercial	p. 166
The Blond as Mediator	p. 167
Alienated Proles	p. 168
The Big Blue	p. 169
A Clever Marketing Strategy	p. 170
The "1984" Commercial and a Bit of Scholarly Research	p. 171
Where Next?	p. 175
Drug Advertising	p. 175
Children and Advertising	p. 178
Battling for People's Attention	p. 180
Appendix: Useful Web Sites	p. 181
Glossary	p. 183
Annotated Bibliography	p. 203
Bibliography	p. 207
Index	p. 211
About the Author	p. 217
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.