Designed as a core textbook for courses in Advertising and Society, "Advertising, Society, and Consumer Culture" develops an integrated perspective that gives students a framework for understanding past, present, and future issues in advertising communications. Chapter contents cover the entire range of social, political, cultural, regulatory, and economic issues that surround advertising and its role in modern society. The many social issues addressed include advertising and gender stereotyping, advertising to vulnerable audiences, and the distribution of wealth in consumer society. "Advertising, Society, and Consumer Culture" intertwines the development of the consumer culture with its coverage of the historical, political, regulatory, and ethical issues of advertising. It includes clear, comprehensive tables that chronicle historical developments and key legal cases. The text is readable for undergraduates but provides enough depth to serve as a graduate-level text. Including extensive notes and a bibliography, it can be adopted independently, or alongside its companion volume, "Readings in Advertising, Society, and Consumer Culture".

This collection of classic and contemporary articles provides context for the study of advertising by exploring the historical, economic, and ideological factors that spawned the development of a consumer culture. It begins with articles that take an institutional and historical perspective to provide background for approaching the social and ethical concerns that evolve around advertising. Subsequent sections then address the legal and economic consequences of life in a material culture; the regulation of advertising in a culture that weighs free speech against the needs of society; and the ethics of promoting materialism to consumers. The concluding section includes links to a variety of resources such as trade association codes of ethics, standards and guidelines for particular types of advertising, and information about self-regulatory organizations.

Designed as a core textbook for courses in Advertising and Society, "Advertising, Society, and Consumer Culture" develops an integrated perspective that gives students a framework for understanding past, present, and future issues in advertising communications. Chapter contents cover the entire range of social, political, cultural, regulatory, and economic issues that surround advertising and its role in modern society. The many social issues addressed include advertising and gender stereotyping, advertising to vulnerable audiences, and the distribution of wealth in consumer society. "Advertising, Society, and Consumer Culture" intertwines the development of the consumer culture with its coverage of the historical, political, regulatory, and ethical issues of advertising. It includes clear, comprehensive tables that chronicle historical developments and key legal cases. The text is readable for undergraduates but provides enough depth to serve as a graduate-level text. Including extensive notes and a bibliography, it can be adopted independently, or alongside its companion volume, "Readings in Advertising, Society, and Consumer Culture".

The fifth edition of this approachable text draws on both academic and applied perspectives to offer a lively critique of contemporary advertising’s effects on American character and culture. Berger explains how advertising works by employing a psycho-cultural approach, encouraging readers to think about advertisements and commercials in more analytical and profound ways. Among the topics he addresses are the role of brands, the problem of self-alienation, and how both relate to consumption. Berger also considers the Values and Lifestyle (VALS) and Claritas typologies in marketing. Distinctive chapters examine specific advertisements and commercials from multiple perspectives, including semiotic, psychoanalytic, sociological, Marxist, mythic, and feminist analysis. Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture provides an accessible overview of advertising in the United States, spanning issues as diverse as sexuality, politics, market research, consumer culture, and more; helping readers understand the role that advertising has played, and continues to play, in all our lives.

Assembles the important writings on advertising and society. This title includes 27 essays which provide readers with the some of the best-known writings on the nature, process, and social implications of advertising and consumer culture for society

Expanded and updated from the successful first edition, Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture, second edition 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 additions to flesh out earlier topics as well as new theoretical material. New discussions include 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.

Captains of Consciousness offers a historical look at the origins of the advertising industry and consumer society at the turn of the twentieth century. For this new edition Stuart Ewen, one of our foremost interpreters of popular culture, has written a new preface that considers the continuing influence of advertising and commercialism in contemporary life. Not limiting his critique strictly to consumers and the advertising culture that serves them, he provides a fascinating history of the ways in which business has refined its search for new consumers by ingratiating itself into Americans' everyday lives. A timely and still-fascinating critique of life in a consumer culture.