ABSTRACT
The day before I finished writing this chapter I stood at a bus stop surrounded by people who were listening to iPods, making mobile phone calls, texting or playing electronic games. At one end of the shelter an electronic advert played trailers and music for a forthcoming film. On the bus, as an alternative to gazing out of the window (at the ‘real’ world?), there was a screen with news, weather, forthcoming attractions and other promotional material. It would be an exaggeration to say that the world has collapsed into ‘the media’ but fair to recognize that culture, social exchange and everyday life are thoroughly saturated by media representation. Advertising and promotion are significant, indeed, dynamic elements in this constant media penetration of new areas of the public landscape. In trying to understand media sport politically, I am searching for modes of analysis that enable an understanding of signification and commodification both separately and together, recognizing both their separateness and their interconnectedness, while avoiding collapsing one into the other. It is necessary here to trace developments in cultural theory in order to outline why this project is both imperative and difficult.
