Matthew P. McAllister

College Bowl Sponsorship and the Increased Commercialization of Amateur Sports.

This study critiques the increased economic centrality and symbolic visibility of corporate sponsors to college football bowl games, focusing especially on the 1996 “Tostitos”; Fiesta Bowl. The paper argues that sponsorship has three major effects on college football: embedding it in tele‐spectacle, subordinating it to the commercial function, and perpetuating elitism. The paper argues that corporate sponsorship further devalues the integrity and essence of amateur sports.

The Commodity Flow of U.S. Children's Television

This article argues that commodity flow is a defining characteristic of childrens television programming, and that this flow of commodity and corporate-brand images builds into the genre a relatively coherent selling ethos. Three-hour blocks of programming, recorded on two different Saturday mornings for several broadcast and cable networks, were analyzed to highlight commodity flow within and between networks. This flow of commodities on childrens television indicates a blurring of the distinction between content and promotional forms and illustrates the high level of commercialism targeted at this audience.

Super bowl advertising as commercial celebration

The Super Bowl symbolizes the increasing acceptance and prevalence of advertising in society. The essay analyzes the discourse around Super Bowl advertising. After first examining the reasons why national advertisers are attracted to the Super Bowl, the essay then examines pre‐event discourse about Super Bowl advertising, discourse that elevates advertising during the event, and post‐event discourse about Super Bowl advertising. Ultimately, the paper argues that because Super Bowl advertising has been granted such social attention and legitimacy, it encourages the celebration of advertising as a beloved form of mediated entertainment.

GIRLS WITH A PASSION FOR FASHION

One of the most popular and controversial brands targeted at ‘‘tween’’ girls since the 2000s has been Bratz, a globally distributed line of dolls, playsets, clothing, accessories, licensed merchandise, and media tie-ins. Whether as dolls or media characters, Bratz are sassy young females with provocatively stylish—some even say ‘‘street-walker’’ (Macpherson, 2005, p. 1)—clothes, faces characterized by large anime-like eyes, full mega-lips, and virtually no nose, and the catchphrase, ‘‘Girls with a Passion for Fashion!’’ With 150 million dolls and five million DVDs sold in its first 5 years (Magiera, 2007; Talbot, 2006), Bratz has attracted much attention, including criticism of the brand and its manufacturer, MGA Entertainment. Critics of Bratz mainly focus on the brand’s overly sexual appearance given its young target market and seeming celebration of adult activities such as alcohol consumption via their pool-side or dance-club play sets, at least one of which came with champagne-style glasses (Goldman, 2003; Linn, 2004; Schor, 2005). One anti-Bratz commentator described their ‘‘lush butts and melon-sized breasts’’ (Linn, 2004, p. 143); another asked, ‘‘What next? Beer for the dolls? A mirror, some fake cocaine?’’ (Beckham, 2005, p. 7). The implications of Bratz’ sexual images may be more fully understood by an examination of the hyperconsumption orientation of the brand. Bratz reflects and amplifies the association of young girls’ self-identity with commodities, and the joy many in this group experience while shopping and buying. Such a connection is certainly not new to young girls’ clothing (Cook, 2004), dolls (especially in the widely discussed case of Barbie), or games (such the electronic board game Mall Madness). However, the depth and breadth given to this consumption orientation in Bratz is particularly striking, and has implications for the social linkages of consumption and self-worth in youth culture. This article examines the consumption ethos in the Bratz brand and its implications for tween girl identity, arguing that it is an example of a theoretical concept labeled by the article as integrated spectacular consumption. After developing this concept, a brief review of the consumption orientation in girls’ commodities, especially dolls, will be presented, followed by a description of the Bratz brand and the article’s method. The analysis focuses on Bratz positioning as a consumption-based ‘‘lifestyle’’ brand through an emphasis on brand appearance, promotionally based media, and group consumption. It concludes by discussing some of the larger social implications of the Bratz brand for tween identity.

Plugging Back Into The Matrix: The Intertextual Flow of Corporate Media Commodities

This article argues that The Matrix franchise provided global Hollywood with a model for channeling revenue and fans through different multimedia revenue streams via linked commodity narratives. Building on previous theoretical concepts of the expansion of corporate media texts, the article discusses The Matrix as “commodified intertextual flow” where various consumable forms were marketed as narratively necessary purchases for Matrix fans. Ultimately, The Matrix as a narratively integrated brand expanded the marketing strategies for commodity-oriented media texts and undermined the original films critique of consumer culture. The integration of DVD technologies, release strategies, and ancillary licensing constructed a narrative necessity and “community” of fans who may have felt compelled to buy into the complete multicommodity narrative.

Advertising and Consumer Culture

The 1999 Fiesta Bowl was a proud moment in the history of University of Tennessee football. Beating Florida State University, the Vols won their second national championship in school history and the first for their coach, Phillip Fulmer. Perhaps the most glorious moment was to be the awarding of the national championship trophy on ABC television immediately after the game ended. However, as Coach Fulmer and his family and friends hugged each other on the award dais at the beginning of the presentation, a vice president from Tostitos, the sponsor of the bowl, shoved a bag of chips at the coach and asked, “how about a little bag of Tostitos, there?” At that moment, in front of millions, selling took precedent over sentiment. It is no secret that we live in an advertising-oriented and consumer-based culture, as this story shows. Economically, for example, advertising is a massive institution. In 1998, for the first time in human history, one country—the United States—saw businesses spending more than

Hypercommercialism, Televisuality, and the Changing Nature of College Sports Sponsorship:

200 billion to advertise to its citizens (Coen, 1999). In the same year, one company, Procter & Gamble, spent more than

Block Buster Art House: Meets Superhero Comic, or Meets Graphic Novel?: The Contradictory Relationship between Film and Comic Art

3 billion to advertise outside the United States, solidifying its global reach (Wentz, 1999). Culturally, advertising is a major symbol system in its own right, exposing us to thousands of promotional messages each week. These messages may bomMASS COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY, 2000, 3(4), 347–350

But Wait, There's More!: Advertising, the Recession, and the Future of Commercial Culture

This article updates previous research that critiqued the level and categories of commercial intrusion in national college football championship television broadcasts. Arguing that the “hypercommercialism” of television continues to increase due to a variety of contextual reasons and technological advances that enhance the distinctive “televisual” style of television, the article applies content and textual analyses of the 2007 BCS National Championship football broadcast on the U.S. television network Fox and compares these findings to a similar study conducted on the 1996 national championship broadcast. Results indicate a significant decrease in “advertising-free” broadcast time, mainly resulting from an increase in the use of on-screen graphics with commercial iconography. In addition, the broadcast is characterized by the integrated marketing techniques that blur distinctions between content categories. The essay concludes with a discussion of the implications of hypercommercialism of sports and broadcasting for the vibrancy of the public sphere.

Class Shaming in Post-Recession U.S. Advertising

This article explores the often contradictory relationship between films and comic book art. Adaptations of superhero comics have reinforced a commercialistic blockbuster mentality among the Hollywood studios. Adaptations of graphic novels have explored alternate visions of visual style and representation. Complications of these polarized effects and subsequent implications will be discussed.