Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-being. Rev. ed.

Ross Willmot is Executive Director of the Ontario Association for
Continuing Education.

The rise of political marketing has not necessarily facilitated the
objective control of the political process by citizens—so write these
three communications professors (two of them Canadians, the third an
American). Still, they believe it unlikely that for the foreseeable
future we will be able to conduct our political business in any other
way.

This conclusion results from an entirely new study of advertising,
culture, and politics in the second edition of this comprehensive
textbook. Substantially new is their debate on issues in social policy,
such as the business of honesty, tobacco-product marketing, and
children’s advertising. Their thoughts about the industry’s
discovery of art are also entirely new.

Their main point is this: “advertising is not just a business
expenditure undertaken in the hope of moving some merchandise off the
store shelves, but is rather an integral part of modern culture.”
Although the literature they review on the economic effects of
advertising is substantial, they find no consensus on whether it is
wasteful or beneficial from a strictly economic standpoint.

The book also deals with criticism and defences of advertising,
advertising and the development of communications media, the development
of ad agencies, the modern ad industry, the structure of advertisements,
and goods as satisfiers and as communications. Each section includes
reproductions of illustrative advertisements. A 13-page bibliography
lists other sources of information.