Global Promo: The Cultural Triumph of Exchange

• Published in: Theory, culture & society culture & society, 1991-02, Vol.8 (1), p.89-109
• Main Author: Wernick, Andrew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Capitalist Societies; Discourse; Exchange Theory; Marketing; Peoples Republic of China; Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; United States of America
• ISSN: 0263-2764; 1460-3616
• DOI: 10.1177/026327691008001005

Interlinked theses are presented on how late-capitalist culture is fashioned by promotional practices & discourses, with focus on the globalization of promotion that accompanies the globalization of social relations based on competitive exchange. Globalization, in this context, is taken to be both extensive (ie, the geographical spread of the market & its cultural corollaries) & intensive (ie, the spread of exchange & promotion to areas of social life beyond the strictly commercial realm). Such features of postmodern culture as de-referentiality, intertextuality, & the collapse of boundaries between previously differentiated zones of symbolization (commercial, political, aesthetic, etc.) are attributed to this double globalization of promotion & exchange. The analysis is integrated into a consideration of three particular recent instances of promotional signification, specifically, from: Gorbachev-era USSR -- a 1988 Pepsi advertisement on Soviet TV; the US -- the kick-off of George Bush's 1988 presidential campaign at Disneyland; & the 1989 upheavals in China -- a meditation on the promotional meaning of the "Goddess of Democracy.". 18 References. AA