ABSTRACT

This systematic and authoritative book provides an unrivalled guide to understanding ad culture. It shows how the logic of commodities permeates the ways we think about ourselves, our relationships and our desires. Richly illustrated and written with great clarity, it will be essential reading for anyone interested in ad culture.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|22 pages

Subjectivity in a Bottle

Commodity form and advertising form

chapter 3|24 pages

The Mortise and the Frame

Reification and advertising form

chapter 4|22 pages

Legitimation Ads

The story of the family and how it saved capitalism from itself

chapter 5|23 pages

Envy, Desire and Power

Gender relations and the dialectics of appearance in ads

chapter 9|25 pages

Commodity Feminism

chapter 7|18 pages

This is not an Ad

chapter 8|29 pages

Levi's 501s and the ‘Knowing Wink'

Commodity bricolage

chapter 8|31 pages

The Postmodernism that Failed