The Sage Handbook of Promotional Culture and Society

The Sage Handbook of Promotional Culture and Society critically examines the social, political, and cultural impact of promotional industries, including advertising, branding, public relations, strategic communication, and marketing communication.

By adopting a global and inclusive approach to its subject, the Handbook champions marginalised voices and cross-cultural scholarship. It brings together contributions from and about a broad range of countries and contexts beyond the Global North, providing a well-rounded picture of promotion as the international phenomenon it is today

Chapters explore both established and emerging topics, with an entire section dedicated to the interplay between promotion and identities, as well as providing coverage of interdisciplinary issues such as promotional media and children, the climate crisis, and social media influencers. There is also a clear focus on bridging theory and practice, with discussions of promotional occupations and workers woven through the chapters.

By reflecting on the questions of what promotional culture is today, how it has evolved, and where it is practiced and by whom, this Handbook is essential reading for scholars and students seeking to shape future research and debate in this dynamic field.

Part 1: Promotional Culture and Industry Logics

Part 2: Promotional Practices

Part 3: Promotion and Identities

Part 4: Promotion and Popular Culture

Part 5: Promotion and Institutional Power

Lee Edwards is Professor of Strategic Communications and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is particularly interested in the relationship between strategic communications and inequalities, social justice, democracy, and media literacy. She has published a wide range of articles, books, chapters and reports on topics including deliberative engagement in media policymaking, media literacy, public relations as a cultural intermediary, diversity in public relations, and public relations and democracy.

Clea Bourne is a Reader in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. She founded and directs the MA Promotional Media: Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing at Goldsmiths. She also designed and teaches the undergraduate module ’Future of Media Work’. Clea’s research explores how digital economies and markets are mediatised, exploring public legitimisation of discourses surrounding digital technologies, including the impact of AI and automation in media and promotional industries. Her latest book, Public Relations and the Digital: Professional Discourse and Change, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022.

Jason Vincent A. Cabañes is Senior Lecturer in Postcolonial Media and Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London. He holds a PhD in Communications Studies from the University of Leeds. His research focuses on the entangled mediations of cross-cultural intimacies and solidarities across the world. As part of this work, he was recently Principal Investigator for the project ＂Imaginaries of Intimacy and Cultural Diplomacy＂, funded by The Korea Foundation. He is also co-editor of the book ＂Mobile Media and Social Intimacies in Asia＂ (Springer) and co-author of the short monograph ＂Consuming digital disinformation: How Filipinos engage with racist and historically distorted online political content＂ (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute). His other publications have appeared in top-tier journals such as Communication, Culture, and Critique, the International Journal of Cultural Studies, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Gisela G. S. Castro holds a PhD in Communication and Culture (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), and a BSc in Psychology from the same University in her hometown Rio. She is a full professor at the Graduate Studies Program in Communication and Consumption Practices she helped found at the Advanced School of Advertising and Marketing (ESPM, São Paulo). Gisela was a Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work was funded by FAPESP and supervised by Mike Featherstone. She investigates the production of subjectivities and modes of sociability in a media-saturated world. Her current research examines the commodification of ageing and longevity in the logics of promotional culture. She publishes regularly, mostly in Brazil. She is an author in Virpi Ylanne’s edited collection Ageing and the Media: international perspectives (Polity Press, 2022).