The book “Promoting Vices: An introduction to research on the advertising of coercive products”, with examples from research on alcohol, tobacco, sugary foods, and gambling, can be downloaded here: Promoting Vices (Hellman 2017)
The book provides an introduction to the study of advertising products that jurisdictions typically regulate due to their potential harmfulness to health and well-being. Examples come from studies on the advertising of alcohol, tobacco, sugary foods, and gambling.
It maps the most usual dilemma formulations and approaches employed by researchers. It addresses the subject also from the perspectives of new mediatized life, merged genres, synchronized communication technologies, and fuzzy borders between producers and consumers of commercial messages.
The book suggests four problematization foci that the research has typically concerned: content, effect, vulnerable groups, and, policy. It portrays a research field that is underpinned by notions of the harmful effects caused by marketing and of the relevance of pointing out this circumstance in order to achieve a political change.
After each chapter the book summarizes some take-home messages. It concludes by providing recommendations to researchers who want to take on tasks in this area of research.
