Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Attention Kmart Shoppers: A Brief Consumer Guide to Consumption, Commercialism, and the Meaning of Stuff 2. The Language of Things: Advertising and the Rhetoric of Salvation 3. But First, a Lot of Words from Our Sponsor: How We Hear What Things Have to Say 4. Boxed In: The Power of Packaging 5. The Branding of Experience: Or Why the Label Has Moved from Inside the Collar to Outside on the Shirt 6. The Function of Fashion in an Age of Individualism 7. Enough Talk: Let's Shop! 8. The Liberating Role of Consumption

Promotional Information

Twitchell embarks on an insightful, fearless, and funny exploration of two of the central themes of modern American culture-materialism and consumerism-and counters the notion of the "used and abused consumer" with an unflinching look at commercial culture, starting from the observation that "we are powerfully attracted to the world of goods (after all, we don't call them 'bads')."

About the Author

James B. Twitchell teaches English and advertising at the University of Florida in Gainesville. His many books include Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture and Carnival Culture: The Trashing of Taste in America, both published by Columbia.

Reviews

A tongue-in-cheek nod to the misplaced moralism we invoke every time we rationalize our will to purchase. Mother Jones [A] gripping and illuminating account of the culture of consumerism and everything it involves: marketing, brand names, fashion, shopping, packaging, garbage, and above all the nature and meaning of consumerism itself. -- A. C. Grayling Financial Times Twitchell is a manic writer. But the mania never overshadows the scholarship, which makes this a book that has the facts to back up the bons mots. -- Ted Anthony The Associated Press [A] feisty defense of American materialism... Informative, lively... Twitchell has written vibrantly about everything from vampires to aesthetics, and he once again offers a stimulating ride. -- Jack Sullivan, chair of American Studies at Rider University The Washington Post Book World An entertaining and insightful history of American commercialism. -- David Kusnet Baltimore Sun [Twitchell] sets out to debunk the widely held belief that Americans are the hapless victims of advertising demons... A good read. Booklist Twitchell... offers an unparalleled diagnosis of consumerism as the primary meaning-making practice in Western culture. Christianity Today

A tongue-in-cheek nod to the misplaced moralism we invoke every time we rationalize our will to purchase. Mother Jones [A] gripping and illuminating account of the culture of consumerism and everything it involves: marketing, brand names, fashion, shopping, packaging, garbage, and above all the nature and meaning of consumerism itself. -- A. C. Grayling Financial Times Twitchell is a manic writer. But the mania never overshadows the scholarship, which makes this a book that has the facts to back up the bons mots. -- Ted Anthony The Associated Press [A] feisty defense of American materialism... Informative, lively... Twitchell has written vibrantly about everything from vampires to aesthetics, and he once again offers a stimulating ride. -- Jack Sullivan, chair of American Studies at Rider University The Washington Post Book World An entertaining and insightful history of American commercialism. -- David Kusnet Baltimore Sun [Twitchell] sets out to debunk the widely held belief that Americans are the hapless victims of advertising demons... A good read. Booklist Twitchell... offers an unparalleled diagnosis of consumerism as the primary meaning-making practice in Western culture. Christianity Today

Chronicling America's increasing absorption in materialism, "the most shallow of the twentieth-century's various isms," Twitchell (Adcult) examines the cycle of conspicuous consumption. Comparing the influence of contemporary marketing and advertising to that of the Renaissance-era Catholic church, Twitchell, who is a professor of English at the University of Florida, contends that both "sell peace of mind either in this world or the next." He finds celebrity spokespersons such as Michael Jordan "priests" of marketing, the subject of "hagiography" in television commercials that are "an almost perfect mimic of religious parable[s]," which pay for sitcoms that instruct Americans in "how branded objects are dovetailed together to form a coherent pattern of selfhood, a lifestyle." Twitchell runs out of steam (and metaphors) halfway through the book as he discusses the evolution of branding and how shopping has become integral to the construction of the modern self, charging that infomercials and home shopping networks are the ultimate conspiracy, with their one-sided, two-dimensional falsely "interactive" setup. Though illuminated by some bright ideas, Twitchell's academese and arch stance make for some strained arguments. (June) FYI: This is the final volume in the nonfiction trilogy that began with Carnival Culture: The Trashing of Taste in America and Adcult: The Triumph of Advertising in America.