Provocateur

This is a revised second edition that reworks the book's theoretical approach, adds teaching aids, and widens its collection of advertisements along with the analysis of them. Its central new claim is that, according to early research, sex and violence in media do not always boost sales, which runs against common belief. The edition also surveys more recent studies on this and related questions.

The revision adds several new areas of inquiry. One chapter looks at how advertisers responded after the September 11 attacks. The discussion of media violence now covers its possible link to youth violence in greater depth, and a new section examines how police and other law enforcement agencies use advertising. The author also introduces the idea of hybridizing, where two types of advertising are combined.

Many of the ads in this edition are new and show how culture has shifted since the first edition appeared.