Through its artful engagement with consumers, advertising subtly shapes our everyday worlds. It plays upon powerful emotions – envy, fear, lust and ambition. But the industry itself is far more subtle and complex than many people might assume. Through an innovative mix of business strategy and cultural theory, this pioneering book provides a behind-the-scenes analysis of the link between advertising and larger cultural forces, as well as a rare look into the workings of agencies themselves.

How do advertisements endeavour to capture ‘real’ life? How do advertising agencies think of their audience: the consumer and their corporate client? What issues do agencies have to consider when using an advertisement in a range of different countries? What specific methods are used to persuade us not only to buy but to remain loyal to a product? How do advertisers fan consumer desire?

An incisive understanding of human behaviour is at the core of all these questions and is what unites advertisers and anthropologists in their work. While this link may come as a surprise to those who consider the former to be firmly rooted in commerce and the latter in culture, this book clearly shows that these two fields share a remarkable number of convergences. From constructing a ‘Japaneseness’ that appeals to two very different Western audiences, to tracking advertising changes in the post World War II period, to considering how people can be influenced by language and symbols, Advertising Cultures is an indispensable guide to the production of images and to consumer behaviour for practitioners and students alike.

""Advertising Cultures is a puzzling book. It emanates from the annual conference of the 2000 American Anthropological Association and comprises just under a dozen academic papers on the interaction of anthropology with advertising.The puzzle is that all the book's contributers imply that anthropologists and antropological methodologies are now commonplace in advertising."" --Winston Fletcher, Times Higher Education Supplement

""Timothy Malefyt and Brian Moeran have provided a great service both to anthropology, and to the world of advertising in this delightful, rich compendium. Advertisers are some of the premier analysts of culture, though they may not know it themselves. Studying their praxis not only gives the world insights into some of the most fundamental aspects of social life. The brilliant papers in this collection also serve as exemplary models for the anthropology of work, with applications far beyond the study of advertising itself. The book has the additional virtue of answering the perpetual student query: ""What can you do with a degree in anthropology?"" These essays leave no doubt that anthropology has an essential and vital role in the world of business and commerce. It is one of the rare books that should be read both by social scientists, and M. B. A. graduates."" --William O. Beeman, Anthropology Department, Brown University