Advertising and Anthropology: Ethnographic Practice and Cultural Perspectives - Hardcover

De Waal Malefyt, Timothy; Morais, Robert J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0857852019 ISBN 13: 9780857852014

Publisher: Routledge, 2012

Synopsis

Title: Advertising and Anthropology <>Binding: Hardcover <>Author: Timothy De Waal Malefyt <>Publisher: Berg Publishers

About this title

Review:

'This work makes huge strides in expanding the dialogue between applied and academic anthropology. Quite aside from the unprecedented depth of ethnography that Malefyt and Morais provide of the craft of advertising and that of anthropology within it, they also offer a primer of new thinking about how contemporary fieldwork might be practiced in anthropology at its core.' -- George Marcus, Director, Center for Ethnography, University of California, Irvine

'This volume presents an insider's perspective of complementary professions that is sure to provoke a swift reaction from agencies and the academy. Advertising is a way of construing the world, and anthropology can inform and unpack that construal. Apprentices, read this book as you plan a career. Journeymen, study this book as you rethink your career. Mentors, teach this book as you guide the careers of others.' -- John F. Sherry, Herrick Professor & Department Chair of Marketing, University of Notre Dame

'A candid portrayal of life in the advertising world, this book is replete with nail biters in the C-suite, tensions and rituals among advertising's fragmented subcultures, and the authors' accounts of personal ethical dilemmas all illuminating aspects of capitalist practice seldom witnessed by anthropologists... This is a unique and courageous contribution to business anthropology by two of its most experienced practitioners.' --Marietta Baba, Dean and Professor at the College of Social Science, Michigan State University

Ethnography is Anthropology's biggest export. Malefyt and Morais take the practice of ethnography to the world of advertising, and offer us an ethnography of that world. The results are profoundly illuminating, and make this book essential reading for advertisers and anthropologists alike. It contains insider insights into everything from how to win an account to how to probe consumers' secret fantasies, and also reflects candidly and critically on advertising ethics. You will be sold. --David Howes, Professor of Anthropology, Concordia University, Montreal

Malefyt and Morais' book Advertising and Anthropology: Ethnographic Practice and Cultural perspectives is an excellent behind-the-scenes manual for students and young professionals looking to break into the advertising business. Readers learn how to talk the talk and walk the walk while gaining insight into what it takes to succeed. The book is chock full of case studies from the authors' own real-world experience. And they don't hold back, sharing not only their successes but also their failures and the dilemmas- ethical and otherwise-that they've faced in this glamorized but also oft-criticized industry. A basic premise of the book is that the advertising industry, if not the larger world of marketing, needs anthropologists as they offer a different, if not more holistic view of consumers. If marketing-both as a discipline and a function- is to live up to its promise to satisfy consumers' unfulfilled needs, agencies and clients would do well to heed the authors' advice and add anthropologists to their research teams. At the same time, those who aspire to break into the business would be wise to learn something about anthropology. --Dawn Lerman, Director, Centre for Positive Marketing, Fordham University, USA

About the Author:

Timothy de Waal Malefyt is Visiting Associate Professor at Fordham University School of Business.

Robert J. Morais is a Principal of Weinman Schnee Morais Inc., a marketing research firm in New York, USA.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0857852019
• ISBN 13: 9780857852014
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200