Advertising constructs reality
Sandu Frunză Advertising constructs reality
Sandu Frunză
Copyright © Sandu Frunză Copyright © TRITONIC 2014 pentru ediția prezentă. Toate drepturile rezervate, inclusiv dreptul de a reproduce fragmente din carte. TRITONIC Str. Coacăzelor nr. 5, București e-mail:
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Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naționale a României Frunză, Sandu Advertising constructs reality / Sandu Frunză Tritonic, 2014 ISBN: 978-606-8571-41-6 Coperta: aLeXaNDRa BaRDaN Redactor: bogdan hrib Tehnoredactor: DAN MUȘA Comanda nr. 31 / iunie 2014 Bun de tipar: iunie 2014 Tipărit în România
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Advertising constructs reality Religion and advertising in the consumer society
About the author: Sandu Frunză teaches courses on religious imaginary in advertising, ethics in advertising, relational ethics, deontology of political communication, biopolitics, religion and ideology, post-Holocaust philosophy. He is professor at the Department of Communication, Public Relations and Advertising, Babes-Bolyai University from Cluj, Romania. He is author of several books, out of which more recent are: Dumnezeu și Holocaustul (Contemporanul, 2010), Comunicare etică şi responsabilitate socială (Tritonic, 2011), Ethical Reconstruction of Public Space through Rethinking of the Relationship among Philosophy, Religion and Ideology (PUC, 2013), Advertising and Administration under the Pressure of Ethics (SUERS, 2014), Comunicare simbolică și seducție (Tritonic, 2014).
Table of Contents Advertising constructs reality 7 A symbolic construct of reality under the sign of the fragmentary 7 Advertising, initiation and consumer culture 12 Advertising and the culture of eschatology always announced and always postponed 19 Seduction and advertising 25 Awaiting seduction 25 Seducer is in turns seduced 31 The world of objects and the seduction of the artificial as ineffable 37 Objects’ seduction 44 Abundance as original seduction 49 Fetishism, commodity and advertising 57 A circumscription of the fetish concept 57 Fetish commodity 63 Fetish and the consumption of goods and ideas 77 Taboo, interdictions and advertising 91 The significance of taboo 91
Taboo, fetish and transgression Taboo and the world of interdictions Interdictions and the ethical conditioning of advertising
94 107 113
Postmodern totem and advertising 117 Recovery totemism in advertising 117 Totem and advertising representations 122 Totemism and postmodernism 134 Political advertising and the rediscovery of intersubjectivity in the public space 147 Advertising and intersubjectivity 147 Secularization – a catalyst of the sacred’s energies 155 Ritualizing image consumption and the seduction of communication 162 Final thoughts: the return of authenticity 171 References Index
183 197
Advertising constructs reality
A symbolic construct of reality under the sign of the fragmentary Advertising is the last refuge of mythic, symbolic and ritualistic behaviors. It proves to be today the repository of the sacred par excellence, desp