Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Exposes the techniques used by advertisers to push products and pump up corporate images. This title penetrates beneath the slick surfaces of specific ads and marketing campaigns to show how they reflect and shape consumer desires. It reveals how advertising works.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

``Virtually all of modern experience now has a sponsor,'' proclaims advertising critic Savan. This excellent compilation culled from eight years of work writing for the Village Voice amounts to a guided tour of the eponymous ``sponsored life,'' during which an individual encounters an estimated 16,000 ads daily. Savan straps one ad compaign after another to her lab table and dissects each with humor, insight and a healthy dose of rage. From Joe Camel's phallic face to the weapons manufacturing behind G.E.'s ``we bring good things to life'' campaign, no tactic used to rope in consumers escapes Savan's eye. Fresh and often caustic, her writing is replete with antigens to Madison Avenue's seductions: ``Irony is a leaky condom,'' she says, warning elsewhere that ``the promotional is political.'' What makes her criticism so effective is Savan's uneasy self-awareness as she softens toward seemingly progressive pitches (such as Benetton's) or recoils from the latest catchphrases. Savan puts advertising in its cultural context, examining the links between image building and corporate operations in politics, economics and the military. Twice a finalist for a Pulitizer, Savan is an exemplary journalist and critic. This thoughtful collection will appeal to anyone concerned with how ads work, what they're hiding and why they have such a hold on us. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Book Review

Almost as funny as it is infuriating, this is an impressive collection of pieces about the impact of advertising on American society. Savan, the advertising columnist for the Village Voice (where most of these pieces originally appeared) aims to illuminate the mechanics and psychological ploys routinely used by advertisers to manipulate the public into buying anything and everything. Whether ads are hocking hair products, dog food, or luxury sedans, the goal is the same--to recreate the viewer ``in the ad's image.'' To this end, advertisers invest billions of dollars in market research designed to plumb consumers' psyches. Guilt and fear are particularly effective in targeting women, who are still the primary purchasers and users of household cleaners; kids respond well to images of anti-authoritarianism and nonconformity; and everyone falls for flattery, including the too-hip-and-wise-to-be- fooled Generation Xers (just make sure the ad is ironic and cynical enough to let them know that you know they can't be fooled). Savan illustrates how little ads have to do with reality (e.g., the link they imply between self-image and soda or cigarette brands). Not satisfied with merely getting us to purchase products, Madison Avenue strives to control the very beliefs and desires that make us human. Nothing is sacrosanct: Historical moments such as the dismantling of the Berlin Wall are incorporated into lightbulb commercials; and even the one force that traditionally has battled materialism--religion, often of the New Age variety, symbolized by images of sky and clouds--is co-opted into convincing consumers that buying certain products will exorcise their guilty consciences. As a counterbalance, Savan offers advice on how to read the true messages of ads (follow the flattery, calculate style-to-information ratio, etc.). Though inevitably such a collection is sometimes redundant, this is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to better understand how advertising presses our buttons while convincing us that we are in control. (Photos, not seen)