Advertising and Marketing

August 29, 2020

Fashion Advertisers Rediscover Black Models

Nearly a decade ago, when Precious Lee arrived for a modeling go-see, she was grilled about her ethnic background. The clients, who were representing a deep-pocketed […]
August 3, 2020

Nordstrom Uses Influencers to Promote Safety and Draw Anxious Shoppers

Wendy Nguyen, a fashionable Instagram personality with 1.1 million followers, is regularly tapped by retailers like Macy’s and Banana Republic to promote their wares on social […]
July 22, 2020

When Brad Photographed Gwyneth

The relationship between photographer and subject has been fraught since long before Susan Sontag characterized it as part of the “shady commerce between art and truth” […]
June 25, 2020

In Vintage TV Ads, a Curious Fountain of Hope (and Cheese)

At the end of yet another long day indoors, when I want to unwind, I’ll put on the commercial breaks from the 1985 American Music Awards […]
May 25, 2020

It’s the Year 2120. MasterClass Is the Only School Left.

In mid-March, as much of the world withdrew into their homes, the celebrity-powered e-learning platform MasterClass began to notice that people who encountered its advertisements were […]
May 15, 2020

Is Marriage a Prize?

The Mrs. Files looks at history through a contemporary lens to see what the honorific “Mrs.” means to women and their identity. Growing up, my parents […]
April 27, 2020

Everyone Is Giving Away Cash on Instagram

On March 18, as states sent nonessential workers home and companies prepared to cut costs, the fitness influencer Paige Hathaway posted a message to her more […]
February 20, 2020

Sy Sperling, Founder of the Hair Club for Men (and Also a Client), Dies at 78

Sy Sperling, a businessman who helped bring the hair-loss industry into the mainstream with ubiquitous, self-effacing ads, died on Wednesday at a hospital in Boca Raton, […]
February 6, 2020

Kim Kardashian Has Learned Restraint

LOS ANGELES — When Kim Kardashian West says it, she’s not being funny. She doesn’t smile. She is professional and sincere, and that sincerity is worth […]
February 4, 2020

Miuccia Prada Will Be Getting Sensitivity Training

In December 2018, Chinyere Ezie, a civil rights lawyer, posted a picture on Twitter that seemed to encapsulate a year’s worth of racial and cultural faux […]