ABSTRACT
This paper welcomes the call to explore the “neglected . . . social and cultural dimensions of consumption in context” to produce research “infused by a spirit of critical self-reflection and paradigmatic reinvention . . . (that transcends) intellectually stultifying orthodoxy” (Arnould and Thompson 2005: 869, 870; see also Brown and Sherry 2003). The current context is the consumer in the ad. Author bell hooks notes an earlier age before advertising adopted the role of communicating the importance of status framing social class values:
At one time wealth afforded prestige and power, but the wealthy alone did not determine our nation’s values. While greed has always been a part of American capitalism, it is only recently that it has set the standard for how we live and interact in everyday life.
