Does Advertising Know "No Boundaries"?

Coming this March to the WB: "No Boundaries," a new show created by Ford Motor Co. designed to showcase the company's line of SUVs as they race 2,000 miles from Vancouver, British Columbia, to the Alaskan Yukon. While such a venture may seem to be overstepping the already blurry line between advertising and programming, "No Boundaries" will be only the first of a host of new sponsor-created major-network TV shows if high-profile corporate advertisers have their way (Coca-Cola, for example, is already developing "Stepping Stones," an hour-long drama starring Gregory Hines, for NBC).

Many industry insiders are predicting that we're going to see a lot more of advertiser-created programming in the future, especially in light of the recent downturn in television advertising revenue, and the rise in video-recording equipment like TiVo, which makes it easier to skip through commercials.

If you're interested in the past, present, and future of advertising and entertainment, then be sure to check out the books below … none of which will be interrupted by commercial breaks.

Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality
by Neal Gabler
It's hard to argue with the idea that entertainment is one of the most powerful forces around these days, but to Gabler, it has become the very "engine of our lives." While his assertion that we now view every aspect of life through the lens of entertainment is certainly argument-provoking, he makes a darn good case for it. How? By examining a variety of different cultural phenomena -- everything from celebrity worship to modern art trends to O.J.-style mediathons -- and by tracing the evolution of popular culture throughout history. Regardless of whether or not you see eye to eye with Gabler, Life the Movie is sure to entertain with its wit and insight, and to illuminate with its keen observations.

The Sponsored Life
by Leslie Savan
Although traditional commercials may be losing their strength, they're certainly not headed the way of the dodo. Thus, The Sponsored Life, an eye-opening excoriation of advertising techniques, is destined to be relevant for years to come. In this collection of essays, Village Voice advertising columnist Savan tackles dozens of individual ads from Joe Isuzu to Joe Camel, and interviews ad agency execs and corporate clients, exposing not only what ads are really saying to us, but also what they are saying about us.

Adcult USA
by James B. Twitchell
To James Twitchell, advertisers' attempts to gain more control over the content they subsidize certainly aren't suprising, and, in his mind, these developments aren't necessarily a bad thing, either. The key point to understand about commercialism, according to Twitchell, is that we actually like to be advertised to, and, far from being the root of all evil, advertising simply appeals to our inherent cravings. Exploring how commercialism has become our dominant cultural institution, he takes us on a fascinating tour of the past and present-day tactics of the ad industry. Throughout, his lively and confrontational writing style is quite enjoyable, as are the more than 100 reproductions of advertisements.

Breaking Up America
by Joseph Turow
This provocative work examines how, in recent history, advertisers have thrown mass-marketing techniques out the window in favor of target marketing. According to Turow, such a shift has widened the already extensive fissures between segments of society. Now, with the help of new media technology, advertisers have far greater opportunities to exploit our differences in race, income, gender, and lifestyle, a trend Turow finds unsettling. Will such practices ultimately wear away much of our tolerance of differences? Are we destined to be divided into insular groups that only care about others like ourselves? Only time will tell, of course, but in the meantime, Breaking Up America provides a disturbing look into our present society and possible future.

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide To Creating Great Ads
by Luke Sullivan
Although it's essentially a business book, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This is probably one of the few how-to-get-ahead books that can be enjoyed by advertising's fans and detractors alike, simply because Sullivan remains both hilarious and irreverent throughout. As one the most prestigious copywriters around, Sullivan knows what makes an ad work. Even better, he knows what makes an ad fail miserably, and he's got plenty of vitriol for the half-brained ideas that make it to the airwaves and presses. A great read for industry types -- anyone who's been annoyed by a commercial and thought, "I could come up with something better than that!"