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Advertising Ephemera and the Angel of History

Advertising Ephemera and the Angel of History This essay addresses a crucial object world of modern urban China, commodity advertising. It shows how attention to advertisements requires forceful wresting of images out of linear time. That the ads are themselves illustrations of linear time in popular narratives of modern history makes them complex. Plastered on billboards, placards, news kiosks, and trolleys; advertising Sun-Maid Raisins, Ford Model Ts, Pond's, Cutex products, cigarette brands, and Brunner Mond chemical fertilizer; and ubiquitous to all forms of media; the modern Chinese advertisement is a picture of and story about the industrially produced commodity and its explosive value to “society” as such. The evidence of advanced Chinese advertising markets in the interwar years 1919–37 allows contemporary historians to see “society” or “the social” as it was first theorized, the social as the sine qua non of modernity. Advertising objectifies the social. Thus while enlightened social theory in Chinese advertising markets is a phenomenon noted here in great detail, the point is that “society” underlies modernist theory as such. The discovery of the social in philosophy and in the dialectical advertising image in the interwar years offers up a possibility of critique. The central question historians can address and struggle over is What social formation does modern commodity culture support? The dialectical image is not referential, so it does not determine social forms. Rather, it proffers conditions in which possibilities perdure. If modern commodity culture supports restoration, then what sort of neotraditionalism appears in the social? If revolution, then what sorts of revolution? CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Reddit Technorati Twitter What's this? « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article doi: 10.1215/10679847-1471396 positions 2012 Volume 20, Number 1: 111-158 » Abstract Full Text (PDF) Classifications Article Services Email this article to a colleague Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Download to citation manager Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Google Scholar Articles by Barlow, T. Related Content Load related web page information Social Bookmarking CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Reddit Technorati Twitter What's this? Current Issue Winter 2012, 20 (1) Alert me to new issues of positions Duke University Press Journals ONLINE About the Journal Editorial Board Submission Guidelines Permissions Advertising Indexing / Abstracting Privacy Policy Subscriptions Library Resource Center Activation / Acct. Mgr. E-mail Alerts Help Feedback © 2012 by Duke University Press Print ISSN: 1067-9847 Online ISSN: 1527-8271 var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5666725-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

Advertising Ephemera and the Angel of History

positions asia critique , Volume 20 (1) – Dec 21, 2012

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References (52)

Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Duke Univ Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-1471396
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This essay addresses a crucial object world of modern urban China, commodity advertising. It shows how attention to advertisements requires forceful wresting of images out of linear time. That the ads are themselves illustrations of linear time in popular narratives of modern history makes them complex. Plastered on billboards, placards, news kiosks, and trolleys; advertising Sun-Maid Raisins, Ford Model Ts, Pond's, Cutex products, cigarette brands, and Brunner Mond chemical fertilizer; and ubiquitous to all forms of media; the modern Chinese advertisement is a picture of and story about the industrially produced commodity and its explosive value to “society” as such. The evidence of advanced Chinese advertising markets in the interwar years 1919–37 allows contemporary historians to see “society” or “the social” as it was first theorized, the social as the sine qua non of modernity. Advertising objectifies the social. Thus while enlightened social theory in Chinese advertising markets is a phenomenon noted here in great detail, the point is that “society” underlies modernist theory as such. The discovery of the social in philosophy and in the dialectical advertising image in the interwar years offers up a possibility of critique. The central question historians can address and struggle over is What social formation does modern commodity culture support? The dialectical image is not referential, so it does not determine social forms. Rather, it proffers conditions in which possibilities perdure. If modern commodity culture supports restoration, then what sort of neotraditionalism appears in the social? If revolution, then what sorts of revolution? CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Reddit Technorati Twitter What's this? « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article doi: 10.1215/10679847-1471396 positions 2012 Volume 20, Number 1: 111-158 » Abstract Full Text (PDF) Classifications Article Services Email this article to a colleague Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Download to citation manager Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Google Scholar Articles by Barlow, T. Related Content Load related web page information Social Bookmarking CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Reddit Technorati Twitter What's this? Current Issue Winter 2012, 20 (1) Alert me to new issues of positions Duke University Press Journals ONLINE About the Journal Editorial Board Submission Guidelines Permissions Advertising Indexing / Abstracting Privacy Policy Subscriptions Library Resource Center Activation / Acct. Mgr. E-mail Alerts Help Feedback © 2012 by Duke University Press Print ISSN: 1067-9847 Online ISSN: 1527-8271 var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5666725-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}

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positions asia critiqueDuke University Press

Published: Dec 21, 2012

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