Hongmei Li - Advertising and Consumer Culture in China

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Copyright Hongmei Li 2016

The right of Hongmei Li to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2016 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

350 Main Street

Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-7116-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-7117-8(pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Li, Hongmei,1974- author.

Title: Advertising and consumer culture in China / Hongmei Li.

Description: Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015046121 | ISBN 9780745671161(hardback) | ISBN 9780745671178 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781509511136 (mobi) | ISBN 9781509511143 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: AdvertisingSocial aspectsChina.

Classification: LCC HF5813.C5 L484 2016 | DDC 659.10951dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015046121

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This book is the outcome of my ten-year observation of the advertising industry in China. I became interested in Chinese advertising and consumer culture when I was a graduate student at the University of Southern California (USC), where I completed my dissertation on the subject. My advisor Marita Sturken, and dissertation committee members Larry Gross, Stanley Rosen, and the late Richard Baum (at UCLA) provided tremendous support and encouragement. Larry and Marita have been providing continuous guidance after I graduated from USC.

I continued the research while I was a George Gerbner postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania in 20082010. I am very grateful to Dean Michael X. Delli Carpini for providing a stimulating and nurturing research environment while I was there. This project received Georgia State University's (GSU) research initiation grant in summer 2012. I also want to thank Richard Campbell, chair of Department of Media, Journalism and Film at my current home institute Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, for providing funds for indexing the book.

Jade Miller read through my dissertation manuscript at USC. Many of my graduate students at GSU read part of the book manuscript and provided useful feedback. In particular, I want to extend my appreciation to Carmen Goman for her meticulous editorial support. Mina Ivanova, Chris Michael Toula, and Laci Lee Adams also provided useful assistance.

I would especially like to thank the advertising and media professionals and scholars who agreed to be interviewed. To preserve their anonymity, I cannot list all of them. Among them, however, I want to mention Huang Shengmin, Chen Gang, Raymond So, Josh Li, Thomas Mok, and Liu Guoji. I also thank Liu Changming, Ruby Wu, Xu Zheng, Zhang Xiangying, and Li Mei for arranging my internships in Beijing in a Japanese firm, a Chinese firm, and a Western media-buying agency.

My family provided tremendous support. My two kids Sam and Joseph made the writing much more enjoyable. My husband Xu Cao provided a lot of encouragement. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law in Beijing provided support while I was conducting research there. My parents Li Linhui and Liu Zizhen always have a steadfast belief in me. This book is dedicated to them.