pically need to be reinforced by concrete measures. (iv) Signal: It allows organizations to display their interest, priorities, or authority in
the public sphere; it gives organizations an appearance of concern and attention
to the public good.
(v) Discourse: It creates a distinct vocabulary, imagery, classification, roles, etc. of
its own. Advocacy propaganda is thus a distinctive discourse, and one notably
shaped by marketing theory and practice from the private sector.
Advocacy propaganda thus takes its place in the larger “promotional culture,” a term that
Rutherford borrows from Trent University academic Andrew Wernick’s book, Promotional
Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression. In our promotional culture, the
boundaries between the “sign” (the message with which something is represented) and the
“referent” (the object, meaning, organization, issue that is represented by the sign) become
blurred. In other words, it becomes difficult to separate the hype from the reality at hand; “a
public good cannot be considered outside of its context of promotion” (p. 16). This
diminishes the reality of the issues at hand, and also subjects them to the politics—however
well meaning—of those who define their role as guardians of the public good.
4. Alternatives and Applications: Postmodernity, McDonalds, and Civic Advocacy
Propaganda
a. what is postmodernity?
On page 7 of Rutherford’s article, “Advertising as Prop英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】aganda,” and speaking of civic
advocacy propaganda, he writes: “Another of the ironies of the postmodern age is that this
most persistent and ubiquitous barrage has gone largely unnamed in general or academic
discussion.” This invites an important question of definition: just what is postmodernity,
anyway? And what relationship might it have to the civic advocacy propaganda that
concerns Rutherford?
Postmodernity is the period in history thought to follow on the end of the modern era or, as
the former period is often called, “modernity.” Hence this new era, believed by many critics
to have begun in the late 1960s, is “post” or “after” modernity. Postmodernity is
characterized by many economic, political, social, cultural, and religious and ethical
features. It is a controversial concept, and by no means is there consensus either that
modernity has actually ended, or that postmodernity is a positive development. A simple
table illustrates some of these features, comparing modern and postmodern society.
aspects of features of modernity
features of postmodernity
th th
society (18
-late 20th century) (late 20 century to today)
economic . industrial economy . post-industrial service economy
. growth in labour and technology . deindustrialization
intensive jobs . growth in knowledge jobs
. national economies develop . globalization of economy
. multinational corporations . transnational corporations
headquartered in
本文来自：英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】 |
论文编号：
lw200707250757417537 
