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Embedded Advertising And The Venture Consumer, Zahr Said

Articles

Embedded advertising—marketing that promotes brands from within entertainment content—is a thriving, rapidly changing practice. Analysts estimate that embedded advertising expenditures will exceed $10 billion in 2010. The market continues to grow even as traditional advertising revenues contract. The relatively few legal scholars who have studied embedded advertising believe that it is under-regulated. Ineffective regulation, they claim, is deeply troubling because corporations may, with legal impunity, deceptively pitch products to trusting viewers. Critics charge that embedded advertising creates "hyper-commercialism," distorts consumers' tastes, taints the artistic process, and erodes faith in public discourse.

This Article argues that the critics are wrong. Sponsorship …