ABSTRACT
The cell phone has been widely adopted as the communications medium of choice in many parts of the world and stimulated the development of significant new consumer cultures and economies (for example, Rheingold 2002; Goggin 2006). In the People’s Republic of China, advertising is deeply implicated in this development. The rebirth of advertising and advertising-supported media in the world’s most populous country have facilitated China’s development as the world’s largest mobile communications market. The interests of advertisers and government are important influences on the patterns of ongoing diffusion and development for cell phones and services, but underlying these factors is unprecedented consumer demand for conversational media. The example of contemporary China also presents an opportunity to recalibrate some observations made by critics and advocates alike about the restlessness of advertising. For example, advertising, and its attendant problems of clutter and environmental degradation, is seen as emblematic of the expansionary imperative of monopoly capitalism (McAllister 1996; Klein 2000; Turner 1965: 106; Ogilvy 2004: 156). It simultaneously serves as an index of the colonization of public space and culture by commercial interests, and of freedom and the spread of liberal democracy (McAllister 1996; Arens 2002).
