Our Master's Voice: Advertising

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Our Master's Voice: Advertising
Author James Rorty
Publisher The John Day Company
Publication date
1934
OCLC 1050233319

Our Master's Voice: Advertising is a 1934 book of social criticism about the propaganda purpose of advertising under capitalism. Author James Rorty drew on his experience as an ad copywriter in New York to write his critique. [1] Rorty pointed out the frequent application of the then-new fields of psychology and social science for advertising research. [2]

Contents

Reception

Critics praised Rorty's "fiery discussion of the advertising racket" and his work to debunk the mysteries of the ad profession. [3] They criticized, however, both his narrow perspective on the industry [4] and his lack of positive proposals for improving United States society. [3] :91

Related Research Articles

Subvertising Making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements

Subvertising is the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements. The cultural critic Mark Dery coined the term in 1991. Subvertisements are anti-ads that deflect advertising's attempts to turn the people's attention in a given direction. According to author Naomi Klein, subvertising offers a way of speaking back to advertising, ‘forcing a dialogue where before there was only a declaration.’ They may take the form of a new image or an alteration to an existing image or icon, often in a satirical manner.

Sexual objectification disregarding personality or dignity; reducing a person to a commodity or sex object

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Masculinity Set of qualities, characteristics or roles associated with boys and men

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Within a capitalist economic system, commodification is the transformation of goods, services, ideas, nature, personal information or people into commodities or objects of trade. A commodity at its most basic, according to Arjun Appadurai, is "anything intended for exchange," or any object of economic value.

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Pathos appeals to the emotions of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric, as well as in literature, film and other narrative art.

Mark Crispin Miller

Mark Crispin Miller is a professor of media studies at New York University.

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James Rorty was a 20th-century American radical writer and poet as well as political activist who addressed controversial topics that included McCarthyism, Jim Crow, American industries, advertising, and nutrition, and was perhaps best known as a founding editor of the New Masses magazine.

References

  1. "James Rorty, 82, A Radical Editor". The New York Times. 1973-02-26. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  2. D'Angelo, Frank J. (1986). "Subliminal Seduction: An Essay on the Rhetoric of the Unconscious". Rhetoric Review. 4 (2): 160–161. doi:10.1080/07350198609359118. ISSN   0735-0198. JSTOR   466034.
  3. 1 2 Brickell, Herschel (1934). "The Literary Landscape". The North American Review. 238 (1): 88–96. ISSN   0029-2397. JSTOR   25114480 . Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  4. Duffus, R. l (1934-05-20). "Mr. Rorty's Biased View of Modern Advertising; There Is Truth in His Picture, but What He Shows Is by No Means the Whole Picture OUR MASTER'S VOICE: ADVERTISING". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 May 2021.

Further reading