Advertising and Consumer Society: A Critical Introduction

237 Pages·2023·10.039 MB·English

by  Nicholas Holm

Advertising and Consumer Society
This critical introductory text explores the role of advertising in contemporary
culture and its connections to larger economic, social, and political forces. 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.
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 advertis-
ing’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. This revised second edition includes a new
chapter on branding and promotional culture, and substantially updated content
on topics like digital and online advertising, surveillance and empowerment, as
well as brand new topics like self-branding/influencers and using technology to
evade 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 read-
ing for students of advertising, media studies, and communication studies.
Nicholas Holm is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies based on the Wellington
campus of Massey University, New Zealand, where he teaches courses in popular
culture, advertising, and communication. His research explores the political role of
popular culture and entertainment media, with a particular focus on humour and
comedy. He is the author of Humour as Politics (Palgrave 2016).

Advertising and Consumer
Society
A Critical Introduction
Second Edition
Nicholas Holm
Designed cover image: ©Getty
Second edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Nicholas Holm
The right of Nicholas Holm to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Palgrave Macmillan 2016
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Holm, Nicholas, author.
Title: Advertising and consumer society : a critical introduction /
Nicholas Holm.
Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022047495 (print) | LCCN 2022047496 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032181370 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032181363 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003253037 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Advertising. | Advertising--Social aspects. | Consumer
behavior. | Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects.
Classification: LCC HF5811 .H648 2023 (print) | LCC HF5811 (ebook) | DDC
659.1--dc23/eng/20220929
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022047495
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022047496
ISBN: 978-1-032-18137-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-18136-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25303-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003253037
Typeset in Bembo
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
For my parents,
I didn’t go into advertising. But this is pretty close.

Contents
Acknowledgements x
Preface to the Second Edition xi
PART I
The foundations of studying advertising 1
1 Introduction: why study advertising? 3
Why study advertising? 4
What this book is about 10
References 14
2 The history of advertising: contexts, transformations,
and continuity 15
Four moments in advertising history 16
The first moment: origins, industrialisation, and development 17
The second moment: professionalisation, consolidation, and
redemption 20
The third moment: hidden persuaders and creative revolutionaries 24
The fourth moment: digital advertising, algorithms, and social
media 27
The changing nature of advertising 31
References 33
3 Analysing advertisements: form, semiotics, and ideology 35
Advertising contexts, codes, and conventions 36
Semiotic analysis of advertising 44
Mythology and ideology 51
Conducting an ideological analysis 55
Careful reading 58
References 59
viii Contents
PART II
Advertising and capitalism 61
4 Advertising, economics, and ideology 63
What is capitalism? 63
What is political economy? 66
What is ideology? 69
Capitalist ideology in practice 73
Selling capitalist realism 77
From economics to ideology to advertising 82
References 83
5 Commodities and commodity fetishism 85
What is a commodity? 87
Commodity fetishism and the relations of consumption 92
The magic system 96
The power of Dove 99
The life cycle of the commodity 101
References 102
6 The audience commodity, media fragmentation, and
data surveillance 104
The audience as commodity 105
Maximising profit 110
Personalisation, surveillance, and online labour 116
References 123
7 Blurred lines: branding, promotion, and influence(rs) 125
From brands to commodity-signs 126
Social media self-branding and influencers 132
Promotional society and collapsing boundaries 136
References 141
PART III
Agency, art, and other complications 145
8 Advertising agencies: organisation, agency, and internal conflict 147
Advertising’s agency and advertising agencies 148
Agencies in a changing industry 153
Contents ix
The people who make advertisements 155
Ambiguity and antagonism in the agency 160
References 163
9 Advertising as art: from creativity to critique 166
Advertising and “creativity” 167
Advertising and art 171
Advertising as art 177
Advertising aesthetics 179
The future of advertising as art 183
References 184
10 Active advertising audiences: identity, engagement,
and resistance 187
The active advertising audience 188
Identities and communities 191
Active audiences online 197
Avoiding and resisting advertising 201
References 206
11 The politics of advertising: capitalism, art, agency, and dialectics 208
Some may buy it, I’m not paying the price 208
The politics of capitalism 210
The politics of agency and art 212
The dialectic of advertising 215
References 220
Index 221