ABSTRACT
Marshall McLuhan was one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century on communication and culture. He coined two concepts which have entered both academic thinking and popular imagination: ‘the global village’, referring to the increasing trend towards world-wide cultural convergence, and ‘the medium is the message’, referring to the impact of technology on communications. He was himself a superb and innovative communicator, easily bridging the gap between academia and popular culture, and his work at the Centre for Culture and Technology in Toronto both made his academic reputation and turned him into a pop icon in the 1960s. His works on the relationship between culture and communication have had considerable influence on advertising and marketing, and his work has also had an influence on the ongoing debate over globalisation.
