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

by Berger, Arthur Asa

• ISBN13: 9780742527249
• ISBN10: 0742527247
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

Expanded and updated from the successful first edition, Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture, Second Edition 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. New material includes classified advertising, advertising agencies in the recent economy, postmodern perspectives on advertising, new consumer cultures, metaphor and metonymy, product placement, and the 2002 California campaign for governor. A new chapter raises questions about prescription drug advertising and advertising to children. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Author Biography

Arthur Asa Berger is professor emeritus of broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University, where he taught from 1965 until 2003.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xvii
1 Advertising in American Society	1	(24)
Advertising as a Puzzlement	1	(3)
Defining Advertising	4	(7)
Advertising Agencies	11	(2)
A Psycho-Cultural Perspective on Advertising	13	(1)
Running It Up a Flagpole to See If Anyone Salutes	14	(2)
Commercials as Mini-Dramas and Works of Art	16	(4)
Teleculture	20	(2)
Conclusion	22	(3)
2 Consumer Cultures	25	(20)
A Cultural Critique of Advertising	25	(2)
Consumer Cultures Defined	27	(2)
The Postmodern Perspective	29	(2)
Consumer Culture and Privatism	31	(1)
Neiman Marcus and "Couthification"	32	(2)
Needs Are Finite, Desires Are Infinite	34	(2)
Mimetic Desire	36	(1)
Are There Four Consumer Cultures, Not Just One?	37	(5)
Classified Advertising	42	(3)
3 Advertising and the Communication Process	45	(14)
The Lasswell Formula	45	(1)
Focal Points and the Study of Media	46	(2)
The Lasswell Formula and Focal Points	48	(1)
A Problem with the Lasswell Formula	49	(3)
Metaphor and Metonymy	52	(2)
Johnny Q. Public's Daily Media Diet	54	(1)
Television Viewing and Exposure to Commercials	55	(1)
Our All-Consuming Passion for Consuming	56	(1)
The Price We Pay for "Free" Television	57	(2)
4 Running It Up a Flagpole to See If Anyone Salutes	59	(14)
Tiffany's Morning: A Fiction	59	(1)
The Illusion of Control	60	(4)
Being a "Branded" Individual	64	(1)
Selling Oneself	65	(1)
The Problem of Self-Alienation	66	(2)
We Can Choose as We Please, but Can We Please as We Please?	68	(2)
Non-Advertising Forms of Advertising	70	(3)
5 Sexuality and Advertising	73	(14)
Sex in Advertising	74	(1)
The Erotics of Advertising	75	(1)
The Peach That Became a Prune: A Cautionary Fable	76	(2)
The Pseudo-Poetic Appeal to the Illiterate	78	(3)
Sex Sells Cigarettes	81	(1)
The Case of Joe Camel	81	(2)
Sex and the Problem of Clutter	83	(4)
6 Political Advertising	87	(14)
Kinds of Political Advertisements	89	(2)
The 1998 California Primary: A "Virtual" Campaign for Governor	91	(1)
Questions Raised by the "Virtual" Campaign	92	(2)
The 2002 California Campaign for Governor	94	(2)
The Code of the Commercial (and Other Political Advertising)	96	(1)
The Death of the Tobacco Bill	97	(4)
7 The Marketing Society	101	(22)
Statistics on Advertising	101	(1)
More Comments on the Illusion of Freedom	102	(1)
The Marketing View	103	(1)
The VALS 1 Typology	104	(3)
Using the VALS 1 Typology: A Case Study	107	(1)
VALS 2: A Revision of the VALS 1 Typology	108	(2)
Zip Codes and Kinds of Consumers	110	(2)
Magazine Choice as an Indicator of Consumer Taste	112	(2)
Types of Teenage Consumers	114	(2)
A Typology for Everyone in the World	116	(3)
A Comparison of the Different Typologies	119	(1)
A Conclusion in the Form of a Question	120	(3)
8 Analyzing Print Advertisements	123	(16)
or: Six Ways of Looking at a Fidji Perfume Advertisement
Lotman's Contributions to Understanding Texts	123	(1)
What's There to Analyze in an Advertisement?	124	(2)
Analyzing the Fidji Ad	126	(1)
A Semiotic Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	127	(2)
A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	129	(3)
A Sociological Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	132	(1)
A Marxist Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	133	(1)
The Myth Model and the Fidji Advertisement	134	(2)
A Feminist Interpretation of the Fidji Advertisement	136	(1)
Conclusion	137	(2)
9 Analyzing Television Commercials	139	(22)
The Macintosh "1984" Commercial
A Synopsis of the Text	141	(2)
The Background	143	(1)
George Orwell's 1984 and Ridley Scott's "1984"	144	(1)
The Image of the Total Institution	145	(1)
The Prisoners' Boots	146	(1)
The Blond as Symbol	146	(1)
The Brainwashing Scenario	147	(1)
The Big Brother Figure	147	(1)
The Brainwasher's Message	148	(1)
The Big Explosion	149	(1)
The Inmates' Response	150	(1)
The Macintosh Announcement	150	(1)
The Heroine as Mythic Figure	151	(1)
Psychoanalytic Aspects of the Commercial	152	(1)
The Blond as Mediator	153	(1)
Alienated Proles	154	(1)
The Big Blue	155	(1)
A Clever Marketing Strategy	155	(2)
The "1984" Commercial and a Bit of Scholarly Research	157	(4)
10 Where Next?	161	(6)
Drug Advertising	161	(2)
Children and Advertising	163	(2)
Battling for People's Attention	165	(2)
Appendix	167	(4)
Useful Web Sites	167	(1)
Useful Books	168	(3)
Glossary	171	(18)
Bibliography	189	(4)
Index	193	(4)
About the Author	197