Abstract

Abstract:

This Author Meets Critics conversation focuses on Christina Ward's book American Advertising Cookbooks: How Corporations Taught Us to Love Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O (Process Media, 2018). Ward meets with two food historians, an advertising historian, and a creative director to discuss the following topics covered in the book: how cookbooks can be advertisements; how cookbooks are ideological state apparatuses and markers of aspirational identities; the intersection of power, classism, and foodie culture; lessons to be learned from the production of advertising cookbooks; brand spokespeople (e.g. Aunt Jemima, Betty Crocker, Fannie Farmer, Sue Swanson, Uncle Ben); the formation of identities through advertising cookbooks; advertising cookbooks as social equalizers; the book's colorful illustrations; advertising cookbooks in a digital world; and advice to advertisers based on a reading of the book.

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