Editorial Issue 17.1 — Critical Approaches to Advertising: What is Still Valid?

Abstract

We open this issue with a reprint of excerpts from Marshall McLuhan’s Mechanical Bride. As I explain in my introduction to the excerpts, I experienced my return to McLuhan, after many years, as exceeding disappointment. His work just simply does not stand up to the test of time. What he presents as a ‘critical’ view is shot through with the prejudices and distinctive gullibilities of the 1950s—fears about manipulation by media, an embarrassing obsession with sex, no awareness whatsoever that some readers are female. The writing and argumentation are disappointingly vague and choppy.