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Virtual Worlds: A New Paradigm For Advertising?, Nigel Devenport

Theses : Honours

This thesis explores the new paradigms that are emerging as advertising encounters the Internet. The area that I explore is the convergence of corporate advertising and the online game, Second Life. The thesis takes as its starting point the economic and social/cultural history of advertising. I examine both Marxist and cultural theories of advertising, in order to properly understand the paradigm shifts of the past. I also investigate the effect that technological change has had on the practice of advertising. Having established an historical framework I· then turn to the current state of the advertising market, as it is defined …