The Distorted Mirror: Reflections on the Unintended Consequences of Advertising
Author(s)
Pollay, Richard
Abstract
Advertising selects from society’s palate of values those which are believed to be most effective in promoting sales. The nature of this selection process has raised concern among leading scholars over the social effects of advertising. This paper presents a critique of advertising that is based on a survey of the writings of significant scholars in the humanities and social sciences, including “all North American authors known to have written on the cultural character of advertising.”
