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The Anti-Advertising Agency B; Why You Should Be In New York July 1st

Why You Should Be In New York July 1st

ctivists estimate that half the billboards in New York City are illegal. Between fudged permits, lack of enforcement, and millions in profit, outdoor advertising has become a corporate black market that wont flinch at breaking laws to get your attention. On July 1st, the Anti-Advertising Agency and Rami Tabello of IllegalSigns.ca will give a free workshop teaching you how to identify illegal advertising and get it taken down. You will leave this workshop equipped to have illegal signs removed in your neighborhood.

Advertising Age International

Advertising Age International
-from EBSCO MegaFILE
Holdings: 7/1/1996-7/1/2000

Suspense and Advertising Responses

Alwitt, Linda F. "Suspense and Advertising Responses." Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 12, no. 1. 2002. pp. 35-49.

In her article on suspense and consumer psychology, Linda Alwitt explores what suspense is, how it is created, and its effects on audiences. She argues that the presence of suspense in an advertisement, in this case a television commercial, evokes at once both positive and negative emotional responses in the viewer, with the ultimate result being a more positive attitude towards suspenseful ads than non-suspenseful ads. She also argues that while viewers have a respond better to suspenseful ads, there are trade-offs in regards to effectiveness.

Suspense is a fundamental element of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, as it is for most of his films, and is one of the keys to understanding the movie's success. For both filmmakers and advertisers, suspense is used to maintain the audience's interest, so for both groups the creation of suspense is similar, though filmmakers must hold the audience's attention for much longer than advertisers. As outlined by Alwitt, the critical elements that set the stage for suspense in both mediums are characters, a plot, conflict, perceived time (the passing of which must be somehow related to the conflict), multiple possible outcomes to the situation, and often the omniscient knowledge of the audience. All of these elements are present in Notorious. Since he is working within the movie format, which is much more extended than that of the commercial, Hitchcock is able to more fully utilize the camera, editing, music, and his characters to heighten the suspense.

One of the films' clearest examples of mounting tension is just before the climax in the wine cellar, as the camera cuts back and forth between large party scenes and close-ups of the dwindling numbers of champagne bottles. The result is the audience's increased emotional involvement in the film and it's main characters, Alicia and Devlin. When the conflict is resolved, viewers walk away with a more gratifying emotional experience, having experienced both excitement and fear with the films characters and having lived to tell the tale.

Mortal Kombat Viral Is Tool For Bullying, Claims Charity

Croft, Martin, and Nathalie Kilby. "Mortal Kombat Viral Is Tool For Bullying, Claims Charity." Marketing Week 16 Nov 2006: 3.

This article explains how an anti-bullying charity group is complaining about a video game campaign for Mortal Kombat. In this campaign people are directed to a website where they can upload images of their friends to be superimposed on the fighting video game characters. These superimposed Mortal Kombat characters are then sent to that person in the form of a “Death Diss” whereby the character is brutally murdered. The charity Bullying Online worries that real life bullies will upload images of their enemies to this site and it will only cause issues between the two parties in question. It states that the site has already seen examples of people using this viral marketing tool as a malicious way to insult somebody. A complaint about this advertisement campaign was made to the Advertising Standards Authority, the leading groups in controlling advertising. It is unknown if this campaign will cause the dreaded actions Bullying Online is worrying about.

This article relates to the thesis because violent media is being used in a manner that could potentially cause a movement to action by the receiving end of this viral marketing campaign. There are great worries by Bullying Online that such an advertising campaign might enrage somebody so much that they might react very violently against the opposing person. Just as The Warriors caused a few kids to act violently due to the violent media being viewed, there is a concern that this viral marketing campaign could cause the same response.

Outdoor advertising | Vive la Velorution! | Economist.com

Outdoor advertising
Vive la Vélorution!

Sep 20th 2007
From The Economist
JCDecaux and Clear Channel Outdoor battle over urban bike-schemes

Horror film : creating and marketing fear / edited by Steffen Hantke.

Horror film : creating and marketing fear / edited by Steffen Hantke. [1578066921 (alk. paper) ] Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2004.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1995.9.H6 H674 2004

This edited collection of essays has the overarching goal of exploring the horror film genre by paying attention to the technical and industrial aspects of film that distinguish horror films from horror in other media (such as literature or comic books). The two general questions that the essays-to one degree or another-address are: what role does technology play in the production of horror films, and what role does technology play in the distribution, exhibition, and reception of horror films? ("technology" defined broadly to include production equipment, industrial mechanisms, ideological mechanisms, etc.). The first section of the book consists of essays that explore various technologies and formal innovations employed in the production of horror films. The second section of the book deals with issues surrounding horror films in the marketplace (advertising, distribution, and reception). Finally, the third section examines discursive and ideological aspects of the horror genre from censorship to fan discourse.

Philip Simpson's chapter entitled "The Horror 'Event' Movie: The Mummy, Hannibal, and Signs" explores horror films as they are positioned as Hollywood blockbusters. These marketing and promotion of these films often downplay or outright deny the film's association with the horror genre (still often seen as a marginal or low brow genre). Simpson argues that these horror 'event' movies reach a larger mainstream audience by using star actors and high profile directors, high production values, and genre mixing. Simpson distinguishes between major studio horror films and "second tier" cult audience films. While it is true that many of the films that Simpson discusses are marketed as something other than horror (either as thrillers, adventure films, or even supernatural thrillers), it is not clear where the division between A-list productions and "second tier" films lies. He cites the $100 million dollar domestic theatrical gross mark as certifying a blockbuster, but fails to cite many of the low budget, independent, or "second tier" horror films that crossed that barrier such as The Blair Witch Project (1999), The Ring (2002), and The Grudge (2004).

Marketing the Horror Film

In this project I plan to explore the advertising, promotional, and publicity strategies used by studios and distributors to market horror films. I am particularly interested in the marketing strategies employed to market horror in the digital age and will look for both continuities and discontinuities in horror advertising practices across film history. The marketing of horror is, of course, intricately related to other industrial issues such as technology and economic needs, as well as issues related to genre conventions and aesthetics.

Philip Nel - Is There a Text in This Advertising Campaign?: Literature, Marketing, and Harry Potter - The Lion and the Unicorn 29:2

In this essay Philip Nel argues that when analyzing the Harry Potter series one must separate the literary text from the “marketing juggernaut” that surrounds it. The first third of the essay, then, is an account of why one need not conflate the Harry Potter books and J.K. Rowling with the marketing campaign surrounding it, and the final two-thirds of the essay focus on the literary merits of these texts. So, in Nel’s attempt to separate the Potter books from the extraordinary marketing campaign surrounding it, he employs two basic arguments. Firstly, Nel claims that the books have generated so much marketing attention simply because of the way American copyright and trademark law works. Secondly, Nel asserts that Rowling is not really a part of the capitalist marketing regime surrounding her books because she donates a lot of money to charity. (Seriously, that is his argument.) Then the essay shifts to the literary merits of the Potter books, which are, bafflingly, almost as naïve and uninteresting as the arguments already mentioned. He begins this roughly twenty-page defense of the literary merits of Rowling’s books with a paragraph briefly describing the criticism that has been raised against the aesthetic merits of the works (this is by far the most interesting paragraph in the entire essay). Nel then says that these critics have simply not read “slowly” enough, and proceeds to tell us what we will find were we to read more slowly. I will not go through all the reasons he cites for why the Potter books have literary merit, but I will mention a few. One is that Rowling claims to have read Jane Austen’s Emma “at least 20 times,” and as a result shares Austin’s satiric charm and “narrative misdirection.” Also, Nel claims that Rowling’s series are “anti-rascist novels,” and he defends this claim by comparing them to boarding school novels written in that late eighteenth-century through the mid nineteenth-century. He points out that these novels were blatantly racist, whereas the Potter books once criticized the notion of “pure-bloods,” thus making them anti-racist novels. (Again, these are really the arguments Nel employs.) Another reason the Rowling books possess literary merit is the names that are used. As Nel points out, Rowling “uses names to connote character traits, as do Austen, Dickens, and Tolkein.” She then points to a few significant names as evidence of this, and concludes that this is further proof of the literary merit of these works. Nel provides a few more arguments in defense of the literary merit of the Potter series that I will not go into here (one is based on the fact that Rowling uses a lot of prime numbers, which are “mystical”), but I think the overall thrust of the essay has been captured. In order to do justice to the Potter books it is imperative that we separate them completely from the marketing surrounding them.

Laurie Cubbison - Anime Fans, DVDs, and the Authentic Text - The Velvet Light Trap 56:1

This essay hinges upon Roland Barthes’s distinction between work and text, proposed in his essay “From Work to Text,” in which he distinguishes a work as a “fragment of substance” (i.e. a tangible item, like a book, DVD, etc.) from a text which is “experienced only in an act of production” (i.e. the content of a book, DVD, etc.). This is an oversimplified description of exactly what Barthes means by these two terms, but it does represent the ways in which Cubbison employs these two terms. These terms are important for Cubbison because she wants to understand how a work (in the case of this essay a DVD or VHS) can alter the text (the program contained on the work). Further, she wants to examine how fans, particularly anime fans, are able to influence the work, and thus in turn influence the text. Finally, she wants to relate all of this to a notion of an “authentic text,” a notion that she feels is bound up with fans, the form of a work, and ultimately the text. This essay, then, looks closely at how hard-core anime fans, known as otaku, are able to dictate the form that a work takes through debates on “authentic” modes of viewing anime, and how this fan intervention ultimately effects the text. All of this technical cant may seem a bit austere initially, but this is really a very simple, coherent essay. Put most simply, Cubbison thinks that anime fans exert influence on how their anime commodities are produced, and this in turn influences the content of these commodities.
This is a somewhat informative essay, particularly if one is interested in the production and distribution of anime films, but the argument it makes is an exceptionally simple one (although it dons the clothes of profundity). Cubbison’s essay basically wants to say that form effects content, and that now consumers are allowed to dictate (to a certain, very limited extent) form. She also adds that the form consumers desire is based on an idea of authenticity, but this aspect of the essay is only explored through the relation of a few contrasting anecdotes and resulting in the conclusion: nobody is really certain what an authentic text is but there are lots of opinions about what it may be. To get back to form, content, and consumers, though, one must admit that her argument is not a very novel or complex one. Form and content have always been interrelated, and have always been seen to mutually affect one another. Cubbison’s argument that anime fans have some control over the form (or work) of the anime VHS or DVDs they buy is interesting, but as she herself admits, the debate over what form the work takes is moot at this point since DVDs are now able to provide dubbed and subtitled, original and edited versions of any given work (whereas before VHS had to make formal judgments that often upset fans). DVDs have rendered the debate amongst fans about the most authentic form an anime work can take irrelevant because they can now offer every potential “authentic text.” Anyway, this essay is an interesting look at the way that anime fans have been involved with the distribution of anime films historically, and how these debates have been waged over “authentic” anime texts, but as you will find if you read this essay the tensions and squabbles surrounding the distribution of anime films has been squelched by the capacity of DVDs to provide all possible “authentic texts.” So, for a historical glimpse of the debates about form amongst anime fans definitely read this article, but beyond this the essay is little more than a rehashing of a now dead debate.

Variety.com - MPAA tries to remove NC-17 stigma

Variety.com - MPAA tries to remove NC-17 stigma: Glickman takes a hard look at ratings

Sat., Mar. 10, 2007

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

This Variety article discusses MPAA chairman-CEO Dan Glickman ongoing attempts to fine-tune the movie-ratings system. The issue is that many theaters and video stores will not carry NC-17 rated films (or the original rating "X" which fell into disuse after pornography began using "XXX"), but at the same time parents and other groups believe that the R category has become too vague with many films (especially horror) falling into what is unofficially called a "hard-R" category. The article states that studios are weary of altering the ratings as they "consider the R rating restrictive enough, with its marketing limitations (e.g., no TV ads before 9 p.m.) and a proviso that kids aren't allowed in without an adult." Studios--and presumably theaters--make the majority of their profit (over 50%) from PG-13 rated films. This is why many horror, sci-fi, and action films strive for the PG-13 rating in order to maximize theater audience and profits. The criteria of the rating system have major implications on the types of films that get made, their content, their distribution and their reception. This is particularly true of genres which tend to contain graphic depictions of sex and/or violence.

It has always been in Hollywood's best interest to self-regulate. As the article points out "the ultimate fear is that watchdog groups and Washington lawmakers could try to exert political pressure on the industry -- precisely the reason Valenti started the system in the 1960s."

Variety.com - Fox Atomic brings new twists

Variety.com - Fox Atomic brings new twists: Genre Label Adds to Conventional Tactics.

Tue., Feb. 20, 2007

by Steven Zeitchick

The article discusses the creation of Fox Atomic--a division of Fox Film Entertainment dedicated to genre films and youth markets. However, Fox Atomic doesn't want to just create and market movies, rather "it wants to create entire worlds around those movies." The Fox Atomic website enlists current trends in digital culture to reach out to young, tech savy audiences. The studio has a presence in Second Life called "Fox Atomic Island, a virtual movie studio where citizens can pick up and play with avatars from all its leading pics." It also holds mashup and machinima contests, includes movie related video games on its website, as well as user forums and information on forthcoming releases. In addition, Fox Atomic has created a comics division that will release comics based on movie properties that are not adaptations of the films, but rather engage in "cross-media" storytelling. Current and upcoming film releases include The Hills Have Eyes 2, 28 Weeks Later, and Touristas.

Although other film studios and distributors have a web presence and engage with digital culture, few have ventured quite as far as Fox Atomic. The article remains skeptical as to the success of this strategy as it is still unproven in its ability to generate ticket sales, but this sort of "web 2.0" interactivity and media convergence may be something that film studios can ill afford to ignore.

Ghouls, gimmicks, and gold : horror films and the American movie business, 1953-1968 / Kevin Heffernan.

Heffernan, Kevin. . Ghouls, gimmicks, and gold : horror films and the American movie business, 1953-1968 / Kevin Heffernan. [0822332027 (alk. paper) ] Durham : Duke University Press, 2004.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1995.9.H6 H45 2004

Heffernan’s book seeks to investigate the economic and industrial aspects of the horror film genre that many scholarly accounts (which typically focus on cultural and/or aesthetic issues) fail to adequately consider. The book focuses on the postwar period (1953-1968); a period comprised of drastic changes in the film industry (i.e., Paramount decree, TV, technological innovation), and charts some of the functions or positions that horror genre pictures filled during this time period. He argues that this period—which is book-ended by 3D technology and the adoption of the MPAA rating system—saw a major cultural and economic shift in the production and reception of horror movies. This was partially due to the Supreme Court’s Paramount decision in 1948 which required the break-up of Hollywood’s vertically integrated system of production, distribution, and exhibition. As Hollywood studios began producing fewer films, independent distributors and exhibitors needed more product to fill out their schedules including B-pictures for the bottom half of popular double-feature bills. Heffernan argues that “low” genres like horror and sci-fi played an important part in the testing and development of new technologies and methods of production, distribution, and advertising to accommodate various changes including suburbanization, the growth of television, new youth markets, and the new economic and business structures of the film industry. Although written as a “corrective” to scholarship which focuses solely on culture and aesthetics, Heffernan avoids “economic determinism” by deftly intertwining the exploration of various aesthetic and formal changes of the horror genre during this period including greater psychological realism and, of course, graphic gore.

Using Philadelphia as his test market, Heffernan chronologically traces the distribution and exhibition patterns of various horror films across both theatrical and television venues. He begins with the early 1950s cycle of 3D horror films arguing that the narrative and stylistic norms of the horror genre could best negotiate the conflicting demands of “attraction” (the gimmick shots) and narrative integration of the classical Hollywood model, and also detailing the challenges faced by small theater owners to equip theaters to show 3D. Heffernan continues through the 50s and 60s exploring the impact of Hammer’s color saturated and bloody Gothic updates of the classic Universal monsters, how shortages in production from majors caused independent distributors and exhibitors to get into the production business, how the rise in art theaters utilized both exploitation/genre films and art cinema (i.e., “paracinema”), and the rise of “adult” horror in the late 60s. Overall, Heffernan’s book is well-researched, clearly written, and provides a wealth of knowledge for film scholars interested in the economic side of the industry—especially those interested in genre film. The only quibble is with the brief conclusion “The Horror Film in the New Hollywood.” It feels not only tacked on, but somewhat dismissive of the horror film post-1968. He also makes some broad—and I believe incorrect—claims such as that in the 1980s horror film spectacle overwhelms narrative. This comment flies in the face of the convincing arguments he lays out in discussing the intricate relation between technology and genre film of the 50s and 60s (such as horror’s ability to navigate 3D and narrative).

Bowl Advertisers Drop the Ball Online

    This article discusses how Super Bowl advertisers did a poor job managing the post-game viewing of their ads. Apparently people are using an “array of video sites and blogs” to view the Super Bowl ads after the fact, and relatively few are actually viewing them on the sites provided by the advertisers themselves. This is due to entertainment sites and bloggers using these ads to “capitalize on ad revenue generated from the traffic,” and essentially being more successful at making the ads accessible. A major flaw of the Super Bowl advertisers, as the article points out, is that they did not provide search advertising for terms like “Super Bowl ads.” The article mentions that this is not necessarily a bad thing, since the advertisers are still reaching millions of people, but that in the future they need to work with aggregator sites in order to “build relationships and promote their content” in more effective ways. Finally, the article mentions that one advantage the aggregator sites had was that they allowed for feedback, a feature that the article suggests that marketers employ on their own sites in the future.
    This piece seemed to lament the fact that the Super Bowl advertisers were not able to monopolize traffic to the ads post-game. It sympathizes with the disappointment these giant companies must be feeling over only getting several hundred thousand hits (instead, presumably, of the several million which they no doubt deserved). Then the article goes on to give the companies tips for how to increase traffic next year, and strategies they should employ if they want fully capitalize on the online branding opportunity. This article testifies to the corporate interests of many media outlets, and can only be of interest if read for what the article is doing, not saying.
    For my project, though, this piece is very relevant. It shows the way that commercial interests are sometimes subverted, and how in order to “set things right” (i.e. stop subversion of corporate interests) plans are being made to integrate the very thing that was the cause of subversion. Thus we see how the article calls for the companies to “work with” (i.e. subsume) those aggregator sites that so wickedly usurped their web traffic. This, then, is another example of how commercial interests appropriate more independent forms of media distribution.

Wired News: YouTubers to Google: Now What?

    This article came out in Wired magazine (perhaps simply in the online version, I am not entirely certain) shortly after Google bought YouTube. Naturally this was big news for a magazine such as Wired, as well as for millions of users of the YouTube site. The article discusses a small array of differing perspectives on Google’s acquisition, from mildly skeptical YouTube devotees to supremely confident YouTube and Google marketers. Some think that the shift in ownership may strip YouTube users of the “freedom” they once enjoyed on the site, while others feel that Google is a “cool” company that will undoubtedly support the “freedom” some are already lamenting. The article also discusses the fact that YouTube has already made deals with companies such as CBS, Universal Music, BMG Music, NBC, and Warner Music, which allows these companies to actively distribute marketing videos on YouTube. The article perceives this as a positive thing, because it “lets amateurs stand on equal footing with the professionals.” Finally, the article concludes with the concern that Google will allow advertising to take over the YouTube site. It mentions the fact that the YouTube homepage is already selling “top front page real estate” to advertisers, and the question then becomes: how much advertising will “YouTubers” tolerate? This question is not answered in the article.
   This article is an interesting, albeit dated, piece. It brings up some relevant concerns about what happens when community based sites like YouTube are bought up by giant corporations, and does a mediocre job of reporting the ambivalence surrounding this issue. On the other hand, this article lacks a good deal of information that seems critical for understanding exactly what it means that Google has purchased YouTube. For example, it mentions that YouTube is already selling homepage space to advertisers, and this will only increase under Google’s control, but it does not explain what space it is talking about. Are these advertising videos parading as user generated content, or simply banner ads asking you to join Match.com or other such ubiquitous internet advertisements? This would be good information to know since advertising is such a protean, mutable form. Also, the article mentions that YouTube has already made deals with several other large companies (e.g. CBS, NBC, etc.), but does not explain what these deals entail. Do these companies post fake user generated videos that are truly advertisements, or do they simply get to advertise on YouTube in some other manner? So, while this article does touch upon some interesting issues surrounding both the dot.com universe and marketing, it also fails to provide sufficient information to make it a truly useful document.
   This article relates to my own project in its focus on corporate conglomeration and marketing. Similar to how Google subsumes a digital community like YouTube, companies like Dorito’s are appropriating the work of independent, non-professional individuals. While this article expresses some fear about the implications of a company like Google buying YouTube, my project will express a good deal more skepticism about what happens when companies like Dorito’s start soliciting user generated content.

A CBS Take on the YouTube Madness - New York Times

This article is about how CBS is now attempting to incorporate user generated content as a means to attract fans to its website. For the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, CBS is inviting fans to produce videos that support their favorite team and/or denigrate other “rival” teams. The article then goes on to list other companies that are incorporating this type of user generated content, citing the Dorito’s Super-Bowl commercials that were created by consumers and the Unilever ad that ran during the Academy Awards and was also created by consumers. Also, the article mentions Anheuser-Busch and their efforts to create a promotional program that will allow consumers to create their own commercials which can then be posted on their website. Finally, the article concludes with a description of CBS-created “sample commercials” that are supposed to serve as a model to March Madness fans who want to create their own videos. CBS is hoping to attract and instruct consumers through these sample ads, and the article concludes by mentioning how this will attract more online advertisers for this year’s basketball tournament.
While this appears to be a fairly innocuous article about the future of user generated content and the marketing that companies are putting into attracting consumers to create their own video content, there are many insidious implications in this piece. For one, the article mentions how YouTube will soon be providing “branded channels,” which are essentially user generated video channels that are intended to attract consumers by allowing them to create advertisements for a certain company. Companies see this interactive opportunity as a great way to raise “brand loyalty.” Also, the article mentions the six “sample commercials” that CBS created, which are intended to “be as close to authentic” as possible. Authenticity, then, simply becomes something that can be created and produced by companies like CBS. Finally, the article mentions how CBS will be screening every video submitted “for language and appropriateness of content.” The article assures the reader, though, that CBS will “preserve their [the videos] reality and spontaneity.” There are many troubling things about this form of tacit (sort of) censorship, one being that CBS is now the arbiter of what is and is not “appropriate.” Also, the notion that “reality and spontaneity” need to be screened for is blatantly contradictory, but ultimately very telling about this so-called democratizing force known as user generated content. Read this article with skepticism and ire (i.e. critically), though, and it can be very illuminating. For this reason I think it can be useful for my project that deals with exactly what this article addresses (although approaches it from a much different perspective).

User Generated Content and Marketing

MIT Advertising Lab: future of advertising and advertising technology

Like reading ad age again...fun.

MIT Advertising Lab Blog

"Well Meant Warning Was Fine Advertising" Philadelphia Inquirer. Dec. 6, 1931.

An article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer that explores whether producer Carl Laemmle’s “no children, unless accompanied adult warning” issued for Frankenstein was an elaborate publicity stunt or a genuine advisory note. By Conor Fitzpatrick

Leading National Advertisers

Leading National Advertisers Report, published by Advertising Age.

Where can I find a list of advertising agencies

Look at the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies (the Red Book), a print source at the Lippincott Reference Desk. Also try an industry search (NAICS 541810) in the D&B Million Dollar Directory.

Where can I find a list of advertising agencies

Look at the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies (the Red Book), a print source at the Lippincott Reference Desk. Also try an industry search (NAICS 541810) in the D&B Million Dollar Directory.

Audience economics : media institutions and the audience marketplace / Philip M. Napoli.

Napoli, Philip M. . Audience economics : media institutions and the audience marketplace / Philip M. Napoli. [0231126522 (cl. : alk. paper) ] New York : Columbia University Press, c2003.
Call#: Van Pelt Library HF6146.T42 N364 2003

Audience Economics by Philip M. Napoli is a look at how a media company determines its audience and thus its content. The book opens with an explanation of the audience market place and how it is comprised and studied. Napoli describes the four components of the audience market place as the media content providers, the audience measurement organizations, the advertisers and the consumers. Content providers include TV, radio, Internet, newspapers and magazines among other things and the growing amount of content providers, Napoli says, complicates determining an audience. Napoli then discusses the reciprocal influences between the consumers and the advertisers in relation to the audience marketplace. Napoli also explains the concepts of the predicted, measured and actual audiences. In the second chapter takes a closer look at the predicted audience. The first section of the chapter deals with buying the predicted audience. He stresses the importance of forecasting media audiences and the necessity of accurate forecasts. The rest of the chapter deals with handling the uncertainties within the measurements of audiences and predicting an audience in different situations. The third chapter deals with the measured and actual audiences. In this chapter Napoli looks at the inefficiency of audience measurement as well as how these measurements affect media institutions. He writes about sample size and how it is used to determine the actions of a larger audience. The two issues brought up are sample size and sample representativeness. In chapter four, the way advertisers place value on the media audience is discussed. The way market, media and demographic factors affect the value of the audience is the first section of the chapter. The rest of the chapter is a case study on radio and a minority audience. Chapter five outlines the effect of new technology on the audience product and marketplace. The first part of the chapter takes a look at audience fragmentation and autonomy and the pros and cons of these issues within the audience marketplace. The second part of the chapter is about the challenges of new media to measuring an audience and how these issues are dealt with. The final chapter of the book deals with the future of the audience marketplace. It is a brief look at how content evolves with the marketplace.
The book was complex if you do not know a lot about advertising. At times it was hard to follow and a bit dense, but overall, it provided an interesting look at how the market is determined in entertainment media as well as how new media and technology effect the audience market.

Seeing through movies / Mark Crispin Miller, editor.

Analysis of many aspects that influence the film industry and how it influences others, such as theaters, current events, blockbusters, color, and advertising.

Media Economics, Theory and Practice

This is a very good introduction to both economics and each of the major media industries, namely the Daily Newspaper Industry, Book and Magazine (Print) Industry, the Broadcast Networks, the Cable Industry, Hollywood, Radio, the Recording Industry, the Advertising industry and burgeoning Online Media.

This volume defines all important introductory economic concepts and terms. It explains why most mergers are unsuccessful (pages 14, 22, 38, 82 and 234), why joint ventures are so common and profitable (page 40), and all of the individual revenue streams of each of the different mediums listed above. This volume is accessible and very interesting. Moreover, when read in conjunction with Baker’s two books, it helps illuminate some of his points, specifically how conglomerates can be in the best interest for consumers in some ways while simultaneously detrimental to them as well. Namely this book gives a fair description of the state of the industry and allows one to draw his/her own conclusions. It portrays the situation without making overtly normative judgments.

Advertising and a Democratic Press

Baker takes certain ideas touched upon in Bagdikian’s book, The (New) Media Monopoly and analyses them in much greater depth (Bagdikian has published many versions of his book, the first of which appeared when there were 50 major players in the media business… there are now only 5). He uses economic analysis to determine the efficiency of the current system (or lack thereof), and makes various policy arguments for remedying the current problem within our press. The structure is as follows: he illustrates the problem, proves it economically, introduces a policy proposal, compares it to programs implemented around the world, and then discusses the constitutionality of going forward with his recommendations.

Implicit throughout his book is that the media serves a distinct role in society and that given the current influence that advertisers can exercise, they prevent the media from fulfilling the needs of a democratic society. This idea is developed in greater depth in his book Media Markets and Democracy where he analyses a democratic society’s requirements of its press according to 4 different theories of democracy. He values diversity and that the media should work harder to meet the desires of its readers through content rather than from its advertisers by delivering the right readers.

Another key point of Baker’s argument is that advertising disproportionately hurts the poor. He points to the example of an English newspaper that had larger circulation than the other major newspapers combined, but not withstanding this fact, because the newspaper was read by people without a substantial disposable income, there were few (if any) advertisers who would subsidize the paper. Thus, the paper had to be profitable with only subscription revenues, and it eventually failed. Baker gives the case study and then explains why this is so on theoretical grounds and that this phenomenon most likely occurs rather often—advertisers seek a wealthy audience, and thus media products are disproportionately catered to their tastes, in terms of political leanings, interest pieces, and other editorial content.

Lastly, another interesting argument is that “objective” news in the sense that we currently read it has some insidious consequences, insofar as it removes (or tends to) partisanship and controversy from public discussion and mass media. Though this may not seem accurate with regards to magazines, when reading mainstream newspapers and news outlets (notwithstanding Fox News), this certainly seems like a rather valid argument.

Like the Show? Buy the Book. And the Earrings. And the ... - New York Times

Arms, Charms and Sexy Peril: Spy Novels and Pin-Up Book Covers

Danielle St-Laurent explores the evolution of spy novel covers, grounding the essay in an anecdote explaining the intrigue of first seeing an attractive man pick up a thriller with a pin-up girl on the cover. St-Laurent examinesthe critical shift in the roles of women on the covers of spy novels over the course of the 20th century.

She references Klimt and Muncha as marking "the beginnings of the use of women in advertising and, by extension, on the covers of spy novels" (277). Many early spy novels covers featured men as the primary subject, with women in various states of undress relegated to the background. Even as women came to the fore of the covers in the 1930s and 1940s, a clear subjugation of the female gender remained; hieratic ideals (with their roots in Egyptian iconography) such as larger and darker-skinned male figures continued to be employed.

Over time, the covers evolved further, with women depicted in minimal clothing, and, often, fully nude [N.B., St-Laurent examines covers in French Canada, where there is less prudity regarding nudity]. A number of other conventions come into play as well: almost all the women are young (under 30), white, depicted frontally to emphasize primary sex characteristics. Furthermore, the women, almost without exception, are depicted with a gun, and gaze beyond the scope of the cover, thus enlarging the pictorial space to envelop the viewer.

St-Laurent makes a compelling argument that "The cover pinup image here is actually a part of the way one reads the novel" (278). For example, a darker-skinned cover girl indicates an exotic locale. The adherence to visual conventions makes the departures all the more striking, thus serving as an effective marketing tool. The cover and the text are inextricably linked.