The Affect of Looking Backwards: An analysis of the emotional labour of advertising in times of recession

Journal article


Powell, H. (2011). The Affect of Looking Backwards: An analysis of the emotional labour of advertising in times of recession. Free Associations. 62.
AuthorsPowell, H.
Abstract

This paper examines the work of advertising in the context of what has been termed an increasingly therapeutic popular culture. In particular it focuses attention upon specific creative strategies adopted during the recent economic recession. Drawing upon Freud's 'Mourning and Melancholia' (1917) the paper explores how advertising creatives mobilise 'the lost object', carefully managing its associated meanings. Through the appropriation of nostalgia via narrative, montage and parody three advertisements for Hovis, Virgin Atlantic and Citreon are examined to explore the ways in which brands seek to insert themselves into history with a view to performing their own emotional labour.

KeywordsAdvertising, Nostalgia, Recession, Freud, Creative Strategy
Year2011
JournalFree Associations
Journal citation62
Web address (URL)https://www.freeassociations.org
Publication dates
Print01 Sep 2011
Publication process dates
Deposited22 Aug 2022
Accepted author manuscript
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Open
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https://openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/91911

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File access level: Open

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