Promotional Cultures

In the twenty-first century, promotion is everywhere and everything has become promotable: everyday goods and organizations, people and ideas, cultures and futures. This engaging book looks at the rise of advertising, public relations, branding, marketing and lobbying, and explores where our promotional times have taken us. Promotional Cultures documents how the professions and practices of promotion have interacted with and reshaped so much in our world, from commodities, celebrities and popular culture to politics, markets and civil society. It offers a mix of historical accounts, social theory and documented case studies, including haute couture fashion, Apple Inc., Hollywood film, Jennifer Lopez, the Occupy movement, Barack Obama s election campaigns, news production and the 2008 financial crisis. Together, these show how promotional culture may be recorded, understood and interpreted. Promotional Cultures will appeal to students and scholars of media and culture, sociology, politics, anthropology, social and industrial history.

In the twenty-first century, promotion is everywhere andeverything has become promotable: everyday goods and organizationspeople and ideas, cultures and futures. This engaging book looks atthe rise of advertising, public relations, branding, marketing andlobbying, and explores where our promotional times have takenus.Promotional Cultures documents how the professions andpractices of promotion have interacted with and reshaped so much inour world, from commodities, celebrities and popular culture topolitics, markets and civil society. It offers a mix of historicalaccounts, social theory and documented case studies, includinghaute couture fashion, Apple Inc., Hollywood film, Jennifer Lopezthe Occupy movement, Barack Obama's election campaigns, newsproduction and the 2008 financial crisis. Together, these show howpromotional culture may be recorded, understood andinterpreted.Promotional Cultures will appeal to students and scholarsof media and culture, sociology, politics, anthropology, social andindustrial history.

Detailed Contents viPreface and Acknowledgements x1 Introduction 1Part I: Producers, Consumers and Texts2 Production: Industry and it's Critics 153 Audiences and Consumers 344 Texts: Situating the Text in Promotional Culture 51Part II: Commodities, Media and Celebrity5 Commodities: Promotional Influences on the Creation of Stuff 736 News Media and Popular Culture: Promotion and Creative Autonomy 927 Celebrity Culture and Symbolic Power 112Part III: Politics, Markets and Society8 Politics and Political Representation 1359 Conflict and Pluralism in Civil Society 15410 Economies, Speculative Markets and Value 17311 Conclusions 191References 203Index 237