Think that horror movies or the depiction of graphic violence have no redeeming value? James Twitchell, an English professor at the University of Florida, will knock some sense into you fast. In Adcult USA, the enfant terrible of the college crowd turns his attention to advertising.
"I have always loved advertising" are the first words of Twitchell's new book, in which he tramples "good taste" by asserting that when he goes to the movies, it's to check out the product placement; when he flips through a magazine, he only looks at the ads. If that sounds just a tad defiant, it's because Twitchell believes advertising is nothing to turn up one's nose at. Commercial messages are omnipresent, and the verbal and visual vocabulary of Madison Avenue has become our true lingua franca. Rather than grouse about the phenomenon, Twitchell for the most part embraces it.
In language that often owes its greatest debt to gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, Twitchell eloquently excoriates the standard dull rants about the evils of commercialism. In true postmodern fashion, he argues that there can be no meaningful division between high art and advertising.
Occasionally he gets carried away by his own bad-boy attitude. It is all very well to argue that advertising does not create desires but merely channels existing ones. Yet when he likens advertising to a religious force breathing meaning and value into objects, he flirts with silliness.
Adcult USA is an uneven work, but not a single page is without a cleverly turned sentence, thought-provoking remark, or outrageous conclusion. The book also features more than 100 ads that illustrate Twitchell's points for folks who, like him, prefer their knowledge interspersed with commercial messages.
Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture, by James B. Twitchell: US$24.95. Columbia University Press: (800) 944 8648, +1 (212) 666 1000.
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