Advertising, the difficult persuasion -- The Uncertainty of Advertising's Impact on American Society: The Uncertainty of Advertising's Impact on American Society

Author: Mitchell Shudson
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: The author is an insightful scholar with a penchant for dialectical thinking, yet he is not averse to empirical evidence. Readers will quickly notice that many of the advertising perspectives presented in the book differ from those taught in our university's current advertising textbooks. He strives to reflect the true nature of things, neither artificially elevating the role of advertising nor deliberately downplaying its function. The book avoids simplistic cause-and-effect conclusions, but the author's intellectual sparks shine throughout. The advertising perspectives proposed in this book are unique. It is widely believed that advertising influences sales by altering consumers' thoughts or shaping their perceptions of a product. A common viewpoint is to associate a brand or product with a celebrity or a romanticized lifestyle, suggesting that using the product can transform consumers into more beautiful, likable, and energetic individuals. Consumers, skeptical yet tempted by the allure of advertising cues, consciously or subconsciously, are swayed to purchase the product.