Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture (Paperback)

~ (Editor), Jason Torchinsky (Editor), Rob Walker (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In his opening salvo in the mental war against the paradoxes of late capitalism, George W. S. Trow proposed a motto: ‘Wounded by the Million; Healed—One by One.’ What the editors of Stay Free! set up inside the brilliant framework of their magazine is an arena where writers can roll up their sleeves and get cheerfully to work at shrugging off the succubus of commercial culture—for their own sakes, and for all our sakes. This book is a treasury of Trow’s kind of healing.” —Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude

 

“There’s no better way for you to avoid the pitfalls of our sinister consumer culture than by buying this book. Purchase it now. And make sure to browse the store’s wide selection of novelty bookmarks.” —Patton Oswalt, actor and comedian

 

“Equal parts damning and delightful, Ad Nauseam is a guide for every shell-shocked consumer besieged by American commodity culture, a battleground where the greatest danger is thinking you're smarter than an ad.” —Ben Popken, Consumerist.com

“As a longtime critic of advertising and a great fan of Carrie McLaren's and of Stay Free!, I welcome this collection of smart and sassy, illuminating and entertaining essays. This book is a must for anyone concerned about the increasingly pervasive and pernicious impact of the consumer culture on our lives and our world.” —Jean Kilbourne, creator of the "Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women" film series

“The book will appeal to readers with an ironic sense of humor or a general suspicion of consumerism as well as those who enjoy keeping track of popular culture.”—Elizabeth L. Winter, Georgia Institute of Technology, Library Journal Reviews

“Entertaining and informative … If you want to convince your dog to love your iPod, this is the book for you.”—Book Calendar Review

“Several pieces … delve into less familiar territory, and in these passages, the book’s themes garner real heft. … While I was reading it, and for a time after I was finished, I found myself questioning everything. … Ad Nauseum broke through the haze built up over years of media consumption.”—Carolyn Juris, Bookslut

Product Description

With the style and irreverence of Vice magazine and the critique of the corporatocracy that made Naomi Klein’s No Logo a global hit, the cult magazine Stay Free!—long considered the Adbusters of the United States—is finally offering a compendium of new and previously published material on the impact of consumer culture on our lives. The book questions, in the broadest sense, what happens to human beings when their brains are constantly assaulted by advertising and corporate messages. Most people assert that advertising is easily ignored and doesn’t have any effect on them or their decision making, but Ad Nauseam shows that consumer pop culture does take its toll.

In an engaging, accessible, and graphically appealing style, Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky (as well as contributors such as David Cross, The Onion’s Joe Garden, The New York Times’s Julie Scelfo, and others) discuss everything from why the TV program CSI affects jury selection, to the methods by which market researchers stalk shoppers, to how advertising strategy is like dog training. The result is an entertaining and eye-opening account of the many ways consumer culture continues to pervade and transform American life.

Carrie McLaren founded Stay Free! in 1993. A longtime blogger, she speaks regularly on the topic of advertising and media. Jason Torchinsky is a writer and illustrator based in Los Angeles, who currently writes for the Onion News Network.

What happens to human beings when their brains are constantly assaulted by advertising and corporate messages? With the style and irreverence of Vice magazine and the critique of the corporatocracy that made Naomi Klein’s No Logo a global hit, the cult magazine Stay Free!—long considered the Adbusters of the United States—is finally offering a compendium of new and previously published material on the impact of consumer culture on our lives. Most people assert that advertising is easily ignored and doesn’t have any effect on them or their decision making, but Ad Nauseam shows that consumer pop culture does take its toll.

In an engaging, accessible, and graphically appealing style, Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky (as well as contributors such as David Cross, The Onion’s Joe Garden, The New York Times’s Julie Scelfo, and others) discuss everything from why the TV program CSI affects jury selection, to the methods by which market researchers stalk shoppers, to how advertising strategy is like dog training. The result is a humorous and thought-provoking account of the many ways consumer culture continues to pervade and transform American life.

“In his opening salvo in the mental war against the paradoxes of late capitalism, George W. S. Trow proposed a motto: ‘Wounded by the Million; Healed—One by One.’ What the editors of Stay Free! set up inside the brilliant framework of their magazine is an arena where writers can roll up their sleeves and get cheerfully to work at shrugging off the succubus of commercial culture—for their own sakes, and for all our sakes. This book is a treasury of Trow’s kind of healing.”—Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude

“As a longtime critic of advertising and a great fan of Carrie McLaren's and of Stay Free!, I welcome this collection of smart and sassy, illuminating and entertaining essays. This book is a must for anyone concerned about the increasingly pervasive and pernicious impact of the consumer culture on our lives and our world.”—Jean Kilbourne, creator of the "Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women" film series

“Equal parts damning and delightful, Ad Nauseam is a guide for every shell-shocked consumer besieged by American commodity culture, a battleground where the greatest danger is thinking you're smarter than an ad.”—Ben Popken, The Consumerist

“There’s no better way for you to avoid the pitfalls of our sinister consumer culture than by buying this book. Purchase it now. And make sure to browse the store’s wide selection of novelty bookmarks.”—Patton Oswalt, actor and comedian

"More than 40 catchy essays expose how consumer culture gets embedded in everything, from TV's CSI to medicine, and suggests ways to respond . . . The book concludes with a list of books, websites and organizations for those who want more info. McLaren likens the process of noticing ads to goldfish becoming aware of the water around them. 'Knowing [how it works] allows people to step out of the media world, even if it's not a physical one,' she says. 'And make a mental shift.'"—Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865479879
• ISBN-13: 978-0865479876
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #170,678 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Capitalist critique with a sense of humor, July 29, 2009

By	Jason Spiegel-grote "Some will burn. All wil... (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a longtime reader of Stay Free!, and one of my favorite things about both Ad Nauseam and the 'zine on which it's based is that -- unlike a lot of critiques of consumer/late-capitalist culture -- it approaches its subject with fascination and a sense of humor. Clearly the authors/editors are critical of our ad-saturated culture, but in place of the grim, apocalyptic tone of a lot of these kinds of works, there is a sense of bemusement, and genuine wonder at the weirdness with which we've surrounded ourselves. This is not to say that McLaren and Torchinsky haven't done their homework -- there's really substantial research here, and you'll definitely learn something. But you'll actually have fun doing it! In addition to being dangerous and exploitative, consumer culture is, after all, incredibly goofy. My biggest dilemma with this book is whether to shelve it next to Naomi Klein's No Logo or my Onion books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening!, July 30, 2009

By	lady in learning "learning everyday" (new Jersey) - See all my reviews

While I have not been a reader of StayFree Magazine, I picked up this book as a potential candidate for my bookclub to read. By the end of it, I was enlightened as to how I and certainly millions of others have been brainwashed by the advertising industry. I wanted to cry out "how stupid I have been!" I am in my 60s and have been subjected to advertising since TV first became available, well before "I could read a magazine." I have a collection of old Life magazines my in-laws had collected back to 1939. It was very interesting to look back at old ads and see the progression to the "harder subliminal sell" of this century. I think "Ad Nauseum" by Carrie McLaren noted this very same progression with a keen and studied approach. I fear for the children of the last few decades as to how their little brains are so completely controlled by the "next must have toy or article of clothing." We have pretty much all experienced seeing a child in almost any store throwing a tantrum to have mommy or daddy buy something the child has seen advertised or that every other friend has. Though my children are grown into their 30's now, I still see their minds being controlled by the latest must have electronic devices and clothing. Ms. McLaren has put forth a very interesting and provocative subject of which most of us have been totally unaware.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unless you can get mono, July 27, 2009

By	Ostrakos "ostrakos" (This town needs an enema) - See all my reviews

Having been a long-time reader of Carrie and Jason going back to the newsprint edition of Stay Free! in Chapel Hill during my college days and its subsequent metamorphoses, I've gotta say this book is great. Never ones to shy away from calling corporate culture on its BS, the material here is funny, subversive and eye-opening. While it may not come with an Evil Weiner/Spatula split single, it does contain a lot of info presented in an engaging manner that will definitely make you think twice about buying anything.