Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising »

In the third edition of Provocateur, sociologist Anthony Cortese offers an in-depth critical analysis of modern advertising_perhaps the most powerful cultural and economic institution. Focusing on images of women and minorities, he unravels the ideologies of domination and control in contemporary commerce. The third edition includes updated advertisements and analyses, and Cortese concludes with policy implications for advertising.

Booknews

Contending that the racial and ethnic hatred Americans so deplore in other countries is in fact latent in modern western society itself, Cortese (sociology, Southern Methodist U.) critiques postmodern social arrangement based on gender, race, and ethnicity as manifested in advertising. He picks as examples the hardest hitting and most timely print ads to demonstrate the various types of subtle messages. He also presents a large and a small plan of attack that includes policy implications for advertising and a practical guide to combating symbolic racism on the individual level. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)