Academic Source 8

Xin, Zhao, and Russell W. Belk. "Politicizing Consumer Culture: Advertising's Appropriation of Political Ideology in China's Social Transition." Journal of Consumer Research 35.2 (2008): 231-244. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. Related through this article, the research of Zhao and Belk examine the effect of the transition from “a communist country toward a consumer society” in China. First, they establish a link between advertising and myth in culture, and then contextualize the study within China’s economic reform. An advertising model is referenced to relate how communist, anti-consumerist propaganda is re-appropriated to serve a consumerist agenda. Zhao and Belk find the consumerist, advertising shift in China to have application in other cultures. Despite the last claim, I have doubts about the relevancy of this study in my research. The title would indicate otherwise, and the article does demonstrate the power of re-appropriating aesthetics through advertising, but the relationship between the Chinese government and its citizens does not appear to be sufficiently relatable to my actors; i.e., they are not opposed. Also, I am not sure it is necessary to demonstrate the power of advertising to my audience.

Academic Source 7

Eric J. Arnould, et al. "Speaking of Art as Embodied Imagination: A Multisensory  Approach to Understanding Aesthetic Experience." Journal of Consumer Research 30.2 (2003): 259-282. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. In this article, Arnould and his peers argue that aesthetic experience is perceived at conscious and subconscious (sensory) levels: both working to manifest the conscious, rational interpretation of art. At first, a review of       aesthetic-experience literature is paired with the idea that advertising culture markets aesthetic experiences, (i.e., a lifestyle) rather than just the products they sell. With existential theory in  toe, the researchers use three multisensory (interactive) museum-exhibits to study subjects interacting with art. They find consumers responses to interactive material is a powerful “embodiment of imagination” that cannot be understood as simply a conscious cognitive process (Arnould et. al 262). This research may prove useful in relating the power of aesthetic experiences as   a marketing tool, and that the advertising industry is aware of this. However, I am doubtful of the need to do so, and I think this material may strain the focus of my essay.

Academic Source 6

Yogi, Hendlin. "‘Acceptable rebellion’: marketing hipster aesthetics to sell Camel cigarettes in the US." Tobacco Control 19.3 (2010): 213-222. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. Through review of over 200 “tobacco industry documents and industry marketing materials,” Hendlin, Anderson, and Glantz expose a tobacco industry initiative. As part of a marketing campaign to boost  Camel cigarette sales, the tobacco industry co-opted the hipster aesthetic and infiltrated hipster marketing channels (e.g., alternative publications). The    campaign, according to this study, was highly successful. I will this information as evidence of re-appropriation of neo-hipster anti-conformist, political aesthetic to serve an apolitical agenda.

Academic Source 5: Letters Upon the Aesthetic Education of Man by Friedrich Schiller

Schiller, Friedrich. "Letters Upon the Aesthetic Education of Man." Literary and philosophical essays: French, German and Italian. With introductions and notes. 'Comp'. The Harvard classics, 32. New York: Collier, 1910. Print. In his letters, Schiller establishes a context for aesthetics in the endeavors of humanity. Speaking first of art, and then through the conditions of his time (French Revolution) that inspire him to transcend both, Schiller finds aesthetics essential to the education of man. To support this ideal, Schiller speaks of necessity and neediness as limiting forces of nature that, if enforced by the state, stifle the potential of humanity to establish ideal conditions (both internal, or of the mind, and external). I will use Schiller’s celebrated work on Aesthetics as opposition. I will accommodate Schiller to the extent that the aesthetic may serve as an activating force for the elevation of social and internal consciousness, but counter where he fails to acknowledge the limiting potential of such when it renders man banal (demonstrated with other, more current sources).

Academic Source 4: The Idea of Culture by Terry Eagleton

Eagleton, Terry. The Idea of Culture. 1st ed. 1. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2000. 1-131. Print. In his book, Terry Eagleton relates the context of culture in postmodern, capitalist society. First, Eagleton discusses the evolution of the term and its roots in the agricultural revolution. Eagleton then proposes that culture conflicts are “intensely relevant” in a world of authoritarian capitalism. However, Eagleton finds internal conflict, or a duality between conception and reception (“tension between making and being made…, culture and nature…, [and] that the word culture is both too broad and too narrow to be useful”) both an acknowledgement of the “new political importance” of culture and a threat to such (Eagleton 5-131)