Advertising Myths : The Strange Half-Lives of Images and Commodities

Advertising is often portrayed negatively, as corrupting a mythically pure relationship between people and things. In "Advertising Myths", Anne Cronin argues that it is better understood as a "matrix of transformation" that performs divisions in the social order and arranges classificatory regimes. Focusing on consumption controversies, Cronin contends that advertising is constituted of "circuits of belief" that flow between practitioners, clients, regulators, consumers and academics. Controversies such as those over tobacco and alcohol advertising, she argues, distil these beliefs and articulate with programmes of social engineering aimed at altering consumption patterns.

Contents:
List of plates Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction 1. Images, commodities and compulsions: consumption controversies of the nineteenth century 2. Advertising as site of contestation: criticisms, controversy and regulation 3. Advertising agencies: commercial reproduction and the management of belief 4. Animating images: advertisements, texts, commodities 5. Advertising reconsidered Notes Bibliography Index