ABSTRACT
Advertising motivates consumption. Its primary purpose has been viewed as persuading individual consumers to purchase products or services by offering, apparently, more telling benefits than rival products. This casts consumption as a rational and evaluative process that the consumer ultimately controls. However, highlighting the symbolic, hedonic, and often irrational elements of people and consumption, advertising has evolved into a more multi-media approach. It uses multiple communication channels to engage with consumers in versions of storytelling and narratives, projecting positive lifestyles and symbolic images that include user-generated publicity to build relations with consumers.
