Description
Book SynopsisAdvertising plays a key role in defining contemporary culture worldwide, creating a variety of meanings in the minds of consumers. Intrigued by this process, Marcel Danesian entertaining and insightful tour guidedecodes the messages woven into the advertisements, commercials, brand names, and logos we see on a daily basis. Marketing-oriented messages are made, he notes, through techniques not unlike those used by artists, musicians, and other creative sources. Guiding readers through the basics of how to interpret ads, Danesi explores everything from product and package design to jingles, cyberadvertising, ad campaigns, global impacts, culture jamming, and advertising effects. Why It Sells will fascinate and inform all readers interested in how ads, marketing, and branding take hold in the consumer psyche.
Trade ReviewThis volume is easy to read and understand, and is supported with a glossary, reference, and list of online resources. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty. * CHOICE, Vol. 45 No. 6 (February 2008) *
Marcel Danesi achieves a goal to which many aspire: to write a book that is a pleasure to read, but which is informed by the most recent theories regarding how media's messages are created and then conveyed to the general public. We discover that the compelling, yet seemingly simple, information that ads provide rests on a profound insight into how meanings are produced and subsequently interpreted. This outstanding book adds to our growing understanding of how messages are created in our daily lives. -- Paul Colilli, professor, Laurentian University, and visiting professor, Middlebury College
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 1 What Is Advertising? Chapter 3 2 General Techniques and Strategies Chapter 4 3 Brand Names Chapter 5 4 Logos Chapter 6 5 Language-Based Techniques Chapter 7 6 Art Chapter 8 7 The Meanings of Ads Chapter 9 8 Marketing Chapter 10 9 Advertising and Society Chapter 11 Glossary Chapter 12 References Chapter 13 Further Reading Chapter 14 Online Resources
