Chapter Review

COMMON THREADS

416

One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is the commercial nature of the mass media. The U.S. media system, due to policy choices made in the early mid-twentieth century, is built largely on a system of commercial sponsorship. This acceptance was based on a sense that media content and sponsors should remain independent of each other. In other words, sponsors and product companies should not control and create media content. Today, is that line between media content and advertising shifting—or completely disappearing?

Although media consumers have not always been comfortable with advertising, they developed a resigned acceptance of it because it “pays the bills” of the media system. Yet media consumers have their limits. Moments in which sponsors stepped over the usual borders of advertising into the realm of media content—including the TV quiz show and radio payola scandals, complimentary newspaper reports about advertisers’ businesses, product placement in TV or movies, and now “Sponsored Stories” on Facebook—have generated the greatest legal and ethical debates about advertising.

Still, as advertising has become more pervasive and consumers more discriminating, ad practitioners have searched for ways to weave their work more seamlessly into the cultural fabric. Products now blend in as props or even as “characters” in TV shows and movies. Search engines deliver “paid” placements along with regular search results. Product placements are woven into video games. Advertising messages can also be the subject of viral videos—and consumers do the work of distributing the message.

Among the more intriguing efforts to become enmeshed in the culture are the ads that exploit, distort, or transform the political and cultural meanings of popular music. When Nike used the Beatles’ song “Revolution” (1968) to promote Nike shoes in 1987 (“Nike Air is not a shoe … it’s a revolution,” the ad said), many music fans were outraged to hear the Beatles’ music being used for the first time to sell products.

That was more than twenty-five years ago. These days, having a popular song used in a TV commercial is considered a good career move—even better than radio airplay. Similarly, while product placement in TV and movies was hotly debated in the 1980s and 1990s, the explosive growth of paid placements in video games hardly raises an eyebrow today. Even the lessons of the quiz show scandals, which forced advertisers out of TV program production in the late 1950s, are forgotten or ignored today as advertisers have been warmly invited to help develop TV programs.

Are we as a society giving up on trying to set limits on the never-ending onslaught of advertising? Are we weary of trying to keep advertising out of media production? How do we feel about the growing encroachment of ads into social networks like Facebook and Twitter? Why do we now seem less concerned about the integration of advertising into the core of media culture?

KEY TERMS

The definitions for the terms listed below can be found in the glossary at the end of the book. The page numbers listed with the terms indicate where the term is highlighted in the chapter.

product placement, 383

space brokers, 385

subliminal advertising, 389

slogan, 389

mega-agencies, 390

boutique agencies, 390

market research, 392

demographics, 392

psychographics, 392

focus groups, 392

Values and Lifestyles (VALS), 392

storyboard, 394

viral marketing, 394

media buyers, 394

saturation advertising, 395

account executives, 395

account reviews, 396

interstitials, 396

spam, 396

famous-person testimonial, 399

plain-folks pitch, 399

snob-appeal approach, 400

bandwagon effect, 400

hidden-fear appeal, 400

irritation advertising, 400

association principle, 400

myth analysis, 402

commercial speech, 405

political advertising, 414

For review quizzes, chapter summaries, links to media-related Web sites, and more, go to bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Early Developments in American Advertising

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  1. Whom did the first ad agents serve?
  2. How did packaging and trademarks influence advertising?
  3. Explain why patent medicines and department stores figured so prominently in advertising in the late 1800s.
  4. What role did advertising play in transforming America into a consumer society?

The Shape of U.S. Advertising Today

  1. What influences did visual culture exert on advertising?
  2. What are the differences between boutique agencies and mega-agencies?
  3. What are the major divisions at most ad agencies? What is the function of each department?
  4. What are the advantages of Internet and mobile advertising over traditional media like newspapers and television?

Persuasive Techniques in Contemporary Advertising

  1. How do the common persuasive techniques used in advertising work?
  2. How does the association principle work, and why is it an effective way to analyze advertising?
  3. What is the disassociation corollary?
  4. What is product placement? Cite examples.

Commercial Speech and Regulating Advertising

  1. What is commercial speech?
  2. What are four serious contemporary issues regarding health and advertising? Why is each issue controversial?
  3. What is the difference between puffery and deception in advertising? How can the FTC regulate deceptive ads?

Advertising, Politics, and Democracy

  1. What are some of the major issues involving political advertising?
  2. What role does advertising play in a democratic society?

QUESTIONING THE MEDIA

  1. What is your earliest recollection of watching a television commercial? Do you think the ad had a significant influence on you?
  2. Why are so many people critical of advertising?
  3. If you were (or are) a parent, what strategies would you use to explain an objectionable ad to your child or teenager? Use an example.
  4. Should advertising aimed at children be regulated? Support your response.
  5. Should tobacco or alcohol advertising be prohibited? Why or why not? How would you deal with First Amendment issues regarding controversial ads?
  6. Would you be in favor of regular advertising on public television and radio as a means of financial support for these media? Explain your answer.
  7. Is advertising at odds with the ideals of democracy? Why or why not?

ADDITIONAL VIDEOS

Visit the image VideoCentral: Mass Communication section at bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture for additional exclusive videos related to Chapter 11, including:

An executive for MTV New Media explores how recent television programs blur the line between scripted and reality shows—and how MTV markets online to reach today’s younger viewers.