The Gruen Transfer: the paradoxical ritual of advertisers exposing advertising

Popular representations of the advertising industry are marked by both celebrations of its creativity and criticisms of its manipulative or ideological role in the consumer society. One long-standing aspect of this ambivalence is the creation and popularity of `confessional' accounts published by the industry's leading practitioners. The highly successful Australian television programme The Gruen Transfer is a contemporary articulation of advertising professionals offering an `insider' view and critique of advertising to the public. This article critically examines the first three seasons (2008-2010) of The Gruen Transfer in order to analyse how advertising professionals on the programme offer the public the opportunity to understand how advertising `works on them'. We analyse the practices of `exposing' advertising The Gruen Transfer panellists employ and consider how these practices of exposure are part of the work of managing advertising. We argue that the panellists' narrative of exposure celebrates rather than critiques the role of advertising in society. By claiming the space where such a debate might be facilitated The Gruen Transfer stabilizes advertising as a mechanism for creating brand value

Critical perspectives on brand culture in the era of participatory and algorithmic media

Brands have become a ubiquitous feature of life in market‐based consumer societies. While marketers aim to establish brands as efficient devices for guiding purchase decisions, critical scholarship investigates how branding functions as a mode of exercising power by shaping consumers' identities and consumer culture more broadly. Beginning in the 1950s as a predominantly semiotic critique of advertising, critical research into branding has over the decades developed a more complex conceptualisation of brands and their interrelationship with “active” audiences and the cultural environment in which they operate. The first part of this essay summarises this conceptual evolution. It provides the necessary background for interrogating how brands engage with, shape, and capitalise on “algorithmic culture”. Recent dramatic changes in the data‐processing power of the developing algorithmic, platform‐dominated media environment is significantly altering the way brands operate and capitalise on consumer participation and popular culture. The present moment is therefore a crucial one to survey and evaluate emerging critical perspectives on brands and branding. By engaging with the current scholarship on social media, algorithms, and platforms, the second part of this essay outlines a number of novel and distinctive critiques emerging from this literature, which can help inform further research

Gruen Nation: Dissecting the show, not the business

One distinctive feature of the increasing mediatisation of politics in general and election campaigns in particular is the growth of the media's self-referential reflections on the interplay between politics and media. This meta-coverage has become a familiar media ritual that is not only evident in traditional 'hard news' media, but has also become an essential part of comedy and lifestyle programs. While some scholars argue that these self-referential revelations about how political communication and audiences are being conceptualised serves the public interest, others suggest that meta-coverage leads to increased cynicism and disengagement among citizens. In this context, the highly successful Australian television program Gruen Nation is a particularly instructive example. On the program, advertisers and campaign strategists engaged in meta- coverage of the 2010 Australian Federal Election campaign. This article examines how the program's communication experts decoded political communication, how they performed their professional ideology and to what extent their meta- coverage contributed to a critical analysis of the interplay between media and the democratic process

Homeowner perceptions of North Carolina sea level rise policy

The North Carolina coastline faces various threats such as erosion, increasing pressure from booming coastal populations, and increasing frequency of major storm events. In 2012, the state addressed the threat of sea-level rise (SLR) on development by enacting NC House Bill 819: “An Act to Study and Modify Certain Coastal Management Policies” (HB819). HB819 did not allow for any guidelines to define a rate of SLR for regulatory purposes and mandated that the Coastal Resource Commission Science Panel update the SLR report in the next 5 years, but could only use historical models to determine future rates of SLR for up to 30 years. NC provides a fascinating case study in SLR policy, because the state previously passed progressive policies for oceanfront erosion control, but halted any regulatory planning for sea level rise until July 1, 2016 with HB819. This thesis sought to address if NC waterfront homeowners and statewide residents were aware of HB819, their opinions of HB819, and what factors were most likely to predict awareness and acceptance of HB819. Surveys were sent out via Qualtrics to waterfront homeowners and statewide residents in NC in summer 2016. The results show that: 1) a greater awareness and stronger opinions of HB819 were reported by the waterfront group; 2) political party primarily impacted awareness of HB819; and, 3) those who believe they will be harmed by SLR are most opposed to HB819. These findings demonstrated that SLR is both a geographic and politicized issue with varying implications for legislators, state-wide residents, and waterfront residents. In the future, NC policy-makers should consider the concerns of NC residents when creating new SLR policy, with a particular focus on coastal residents who will be most harmed.Bachelor of Art