COMMON THREADS
One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is the commercial nature of mass media. The U.S. media system, due to policy choices made in the early and mid-
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—
Still, as advertising has become more pervasive and consumers have become 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—
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-
Are we as a society giving up on trying to set limits on the never-
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, 377
space brokers, 379
subliminal advertising, 383
slogan, 383
mega-agencies, 384
boutique agencies, 384
market research, 386
demographics, 386
psychographics, 386
focus groups, 386
Values and Lifestyles (VALS), 386
storyboard, 388
viral marketing, 388
media buyers, 388
saturation advertising, 389
account executives, 389
account reviews, 390
interstitials, 390
spam, 390
famous-person testimonial, 393
plain-folks pitch, 394
snob-appeal approach, 394
bandwagon effect, 394
hidden-fear appeal, 394
irritation advertising, 394
association principle, 394
myth analysis, 396
commercial speech, 399
political advertising, 408
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Early Developments in American Advertising
The Shape of U.S. Advertising Today
Persuasive Techniques in Contemporary Advertising
Commercial Speech and Regulating Advertising
Advertising, Politics, and Democracy
QUESTIONING THE MEDIA
LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE