ADULT EDUCATION PRESENTS:
"AD NAUSEAM: LESSONS FROM CONSUMER CULTURE"
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 - 8 pm (doors at 7:30)
Union Hall in Park Slope
702 Union St. @ 5th Ave
$5 cover
Note: This month's show is doing double-duty as a book release party for Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture (Faber and Faber, June 23), edited by Adult Ed founder Carrie McLaren and her longtime writing partner, Jason Torchinsky.
CARRIE McLAREN
"The Strange and Curious History of Subliminal Advertising"
Ms. McLaren discusses the little-known origins of "subthreshold" persuasion
— and the businesses that, against all apparent odds, made a mint off of subliminal
advertising.
JASON TORCHINSKY
"On the Purity of Car Insurance Advertising and the Many and Diverse Ways
it Sucks Profoundly"
Due to the alarmingly insubstantial nature of their product, car insurance commercials
have evolved to become the purest sort of advertising, spawning mascots and spokescharacters.
Mr. Torchinsky surveys their tactics in this brief lecture. As exciting as it
sounds!
DAVID ANGELO
"Advertising and the Celebration of Deferred Responsibility"
Mr. Angelo uses contemporary examples in advertising to illustrate his point
that all marketing campaigns require their intended targets to abandon the basic
concept of personal responsibility.
+ 1 more lecture TBA
With your host, CHARLES STAR
* * * *
DAVID ANGELO is a New York-based comedian and internet-radio folk hero. Raised in historic Lexington, Massachusetts, he proudly carries on the tradition of revolutionary dissent. You can find him online at www.davidangelo.info or chickenpadthai.com.
CARRIE McLAREN is co-editor of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture and founder of the hopelessly obscure and now defunct Stay Free! magazine. Her last talk for Adult Ed was "How to Raise an Ape in Your Home."
JASON TORCHINSKY is the other co-editor of Ad Nauseam. An artist and writer based in Los Angeles, he writes for the Onion News Network but merely for sport.
CHARLES STAR (host) is a lawyer sans portfolio and a stand-up comedian sans recognition who lives in Brooklyn with his excellent wife, his awesome cat, and a baby genius. He's on the web at charlesstar.com.
* * * *Got an idea for an Adult Ed lecture? Email your pitch to adulted (at) stayfreemagazine.org. Adult Ed will be taking August 2009 off but will be back in September, God willing.