Includes bibliographical references (pages 210-218) and index.

Introduction: why study advertising? -- The history of advertising: contexts, transformations and continuity -- Analysing advertisements: form, semiotics and ideology -- Advertising, capitalism and ideology -- Advertising commodities and commodity fetishism -- Audiences for sale: quantification, segmentation and personalisation -- Advertising agencies: organisation, agency and internal conflict -- Advertising as art: from creativity to critique -- Empowering consumers: engagement, interpretation and resistance -- The politics of advertising: capitalism, resistance and liberalism.

In this critical introduction to advertising, Nicholas Holm explores the role of advertising in contemporary culture and its connections to larger economic, social, and political forces. From an investigation of advertising's crucial function in media economics and the wider capitalist system to a consideration of the people who both make and watch advertising, this text enables students to make sense of advertising's powerful influence as both an economic force and an artistic form; assess the various claims of these two perspectives on advertising; and understand how they challenge and complicate one another. Incorporating a wide range of examples from around the world, the book introduces the key concepts, methods, and debates needed to analyze and understand advertising. A resource for students of advertising, media studies, and communication studies.

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