ABSTRACT
Consumer and media culture have been centrally located in the discussion of postmodern theory—specifically, because advertising is really the essence of post-modern culture. Postmodernism is the age of the lost referent, an age in which the signs and symbols of culture have been torn from the material world. Jameson’s portrayal of postmodern culture as a series of superficial and meaningless representations is very similar to Jean Baudrillards analysis of contemporary culture. Theorists of postmodernism define it as a profound historical shift, manifested primarily at the cultural level; but they also include assertions that the basic economic structure has undergone a transformation. Postmodernism’s aesthetic perspective on consumer culture has led to explorations of the ways in which consumers actively participate in the realm of consumption, to “aestheticize” themselves and their surrounding on a daily basis. Consumer culture contains the search for human well-being within the simulational world of consumption.
