Decoding Advertisements by Judith Williamson

Decoding Advertisements by Judith Williamson

A fascinating account of how the admen achieve their effects.?Stuart Hood>

This book sets out not simply to criticize advertisements on the grounds of dishonesty and exploitation, but to examine in detail, through over a hundred illustrations, their undoubted attractiveness and appeal. The overt economic function of this appeal is to make us buy things. Its ideological function, however, is to involve us as 'individuals' in perpetuating the ideas which endorse the economic basis of our society. If it is economic conditions which make ideology necessary, it is ideology which makes those conditions>seem necessary.

If society is to be changed, this vicious circle of necessity and ideas must be broken. Decoding Advertisements is an attempt to undo one link in the chain which we ourselves help to forge, in our acceptance not only of the images and values of advertising, but of the 'transparent' forms and structures in which they are embodied. It provides not an answer, but a set of tools which we can use to alter our own perceptions of one of society's subtlest and most complex forms of propaganda.

Other books by Judith Williamson published by Marion Boyars are>Consuming Passions: the Dynamics of Popular Culture and>Deadline at Dawn: Film Criticism 1980-1990.

A fascinating account of how the admen achieve their effects.?Stuart Hood>

This book sets out not simply to criticize advertisements on the grounds of dishonesty and exploitation, but to examine in detail, through over a hundred illustrations, their undoubted attractiveness and appeal. The overt economic function of this appeal is to make us buy things. Its ideological function, however, is to involve us as 'individuals' in perpetuating the ideas which endorse the economic basis of our society. If it is economic conditions which make ideology necessary, it is ideology which makes those conditions>seem necessary.

If society is to be changed, this vicious circle of necessity and ideas must be broken. Decoding Advertisements is an attempt to undo one link in the chain which we ourselves help to forge, in our acceptance not only of the images and values of advertising, but of the 'transparent' forms and structures in which they are embodied. It provides not an answer, but a set of tools which we can use to alter our own perceptions of one of society's subtlest and most complex forms of propaganda.

Other books by Judith Williamson published by Marion Boyars are>Consuming Passions: the Dynamics of Popular Culture and>Deadline at Dawn: Film Criticism 1980-1990.

Williamson, Judith: - Judith Williamson served as Director of the Napoleon Hill World Learning Center for eighteen years. She is the author or coauthor of several books, including The Path to Riches in Think and Grow Rich and Success Vitamins for a Positive Mind.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780714526157
ISBN 10	0714526150
Title	Decoding Advertisements
Author	Judith Williamson
Series	Open Forum S
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
Year published	2000-10-24
Number of pages	180
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable