James Twitchell

James Twitchell, "But First, A Word from Our Sponsor"

James Twitchell (1943- ) was born in Burlington, Vermont and earned a B.A. in 1962 from the University of Vermont, and both an M.A. (1966) and a Ph.D. (1969) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has taught at Duke University, California State College, and at the University of Florida, Gainesville since 1981. His books include Dreadful Pleasures: An Anatomy of Modern Horror (1985), Carnival Culture: The Trashing of Taste in America (1992) which was nominated for both a National Book Award and a Nation Book Critics Circle Award, Twenty Ads That Shook the World: The Century's Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All (2000), and Living It Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury (2002). Wilson also contributes to periodicals such as Current, the Washington Post, and The American Spectator. "But First, A Word from Our Sponsor" argues that advertising currently has the central role in determining our culture. It was first published in 1996 in The Wilson Quarterly.

CONTENT

1. What is infotainment?
2. Define the word fungible.
3. Briefly explain the economic concept of cost externalization.
4. According to Twitchell, what does branding have to do with advertising?
5. What does the author mean by the phrase the quid pro quo of modern infotainment culture?
6. How does the author affix blame for the media's role in the "dumbing down" of American culture?
7. Explain the main characteristics of Adcult.

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. Where have you heard the words in the title spoken before? Discuss the title's effectiveness or ineffectiveness in light of the author's views about the all-encompassing Adcult.
2. Discuss the use of description in this essay. Where does the author specifically invoke the senses? How can you tie in his use of description with his ideas about the pervasiveness of advertising?
3. What is the author's argument here? What kinds of support does he give for his main points? Do you find all of the support sufficient? Explain.
4. Review paragraph eight, where we learn that Revlon makes 158 colors of lipstick and that Crest makes 36 varieties of toothpaste. What is the effect of using these numbers here as opposed to phrases like "more than a hundred" or "dozens"?
5. What is the author's tone in the last paragraph? Is he being optimistic, pessimistic, unrealistic, objective? Can you characterize his tone in some other way? What words and phrases in that paragraph support your answer?

1. Do you read ConsumerReports? What mention of the magazine does the author make in this piece? How might your answers here have affected your reading?
2. Do you like to go shopping for its own sake, or would you just as soon visit the dentist? How do you relate advertising and shopping? Did your feelings in these areas have anything to do with how you related to this essay?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. The television industry is currently in a court battle to limit the makers of digital recording devices from programming their machines to allow consumers to avoid tv commercials. Are people who watch commercial tv and who "zap" ads—or switch channels during breaks—freeloaders? (One Turner executive equated zapping to stealing.) On a societal level, what role, if any, should the government play in regulating such behavior? Where does this leave the tv industry's lawsuit?
2. Twitchell writes, "We don't consume the products as much as we consume the advertising." Is this an overstatement? Is there really such little difference between consumer products in equivalent categories? Write an essay exploring this statement using your text and your own consumer behavior.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Read or review Russell Baker's piece "Work in Corporate America." How do these two authors' views of the industrial process in America differ? What do you think accounts for the difference? What similarities can you find in the views of these two authors? When Baker refers to junk is he referring to the same items that Twitchell calls things? Explain.

WEB CONNECTION

Take a look at these blurb reviews for Twitchell's book Adcult USA. What do you find out about the book from these reviews? How would you find the whole review if you wanted to read it? Can you tell if your library has a copy of the book from the computer you're using now?

LINKS

Biographical

This is Twitchell's page from the University of Florida's site. You'll find biographical information there, and a couple of links.

Here's a biographical sketch of Twitchell from the Floridian. How does the information here differ from what you found on the page above? If you had to pick one of these sources for a related paper, which one would it be and why?

Bibliographical

Ok, time for some multimedia. Visit this page and you'll find links to Twitchell speaking about shame and advertising. Is that redundant?

Here's more information about another of this author's books. Read this excerpt from Lead Us Into Temptation and see what you think. Do you like using etext, or do you find it hard to read that much from the screen?

Cultural

Read this review of Twitchell's book Lead Us Into Temptation. Now that you've read the review and an excerpt, do you want to read the book itself? Explain.

Are you interested in doing some research about advertising but you've found the topic is too immense? Take a look at this directory about advertising from Google.com and you'll find plenty of ways to zero in on a manageable approach.

Do you know Twitchell likes to write about horror? Take a peek at what he has to say about vampire origins.