Bücher der Reihe Routledge Critical Advertising

The history of Italian cinema is mostly regarded as a history of Italian auteurs. This book takes a different standpoint, looking at Italian cinema from the perspective of an unusual, but influential actor: advertisers.From the iconic Vespa scooter and the many other Made in Italy products placed in domestic and international features, to Carosello's early format of branded entertainment, up through the more recent brand integration cases in award-winning titles like The Great Beauty, the Italian film and advertising industries have frequently and significantly intersected, in ways that remain largely unexplored by academic research. This book contributes to fill this gap, by focusing on the economic and cultural influence that advertising and advertisers' interests have been exerting on Italian film production between the post-war period and the 2010s. Increasingly market-oriented film policies, ongoing pressure from Hollywood competition, and the abnormal economic as well as political power held by Italian ad-funded broadcasters are among the key points addressed by the book. In addition to a macro-level political economic analysis, the book draws on exclusive interviews with film producers and promotional intermediaries to provide a meso level analysis of the practices and professional cultures of those working at the intersection of Italian film and advertising industries.Providing an in-depth yet clear and accessible overview of the political and economic dynamics driving the Italian media landscape towards unprecedented forms of marketisation, this is a valuable resource for academics and students in the fields of film and media studies, marketing, advertising, and Italian studies.

Using textual analysis, interviews with game designers, audience surveys, and close analysis of player forum discussion, this book examines the unique nature of the producer/consumer relationship within promotional Alternate Reality Games (ARGs).Historically, ARGs are rooted in advertising as much as they are in narrative storytelling. As designers often have to respond to player actions as the game progresses, players can have an impact on the storyline, on character behaviour, and potentially on the final resolution of the narrative. This book explores how both media consumers and producers are responding to this new reconfiguration of the producer/consumer/prosumer dynamic in order to better understand the diverse advertising experiences available to media audiences today.With a focus on participatory culture and the political economy of promotional communications, this in-depth analysis of ARGs will appeal to academics and researchers in the fields of games, film, advertising, and media and cultural studies.