ABSTRACT
This chapter asks what is the significance of the rise of promotional culture in contemporary society? That the growth and development of promotional culture has been inseparable from that of much of media and popular culture is indisputable. However, accounts of the social and cultural impacts of promotion in media and cultural studies have varied considerably. Clarification of the part it plays in social change and power relations, in an increasingly mediated society, seems long overdue. This chapter thus attempts to offer an organising survey of some of the more common perspectives on promotion that have developed.
