Tangled Goods

"The advertising industry seems like one of the most craven manifestations of capitalism, with large firms crafting creative concepts designed to make big companies bigger through the sale of dubious if not downright harmful products. In Tangled Goods, authors Iddo Tavory, Sonia Prelat, and Shelly Ronen consider an important dimension of the advertising industry that appears to depart from the industry's consumerist foundations: pro bono ad campaigns. Interviewing more than 100 advertisers, the authors trace the complicated web of meanings of the "good" in these pro bono projects. Doing something altruistic often helps employees feel more at ease working for big pharma or corporate banks, and often these projects afford them greater creative leeway than they normally have, not to mention greater potential rewards and recognition. Though the authors uncover selfish motivations behind altruistic work, they are more interested in considering how these various notions of the good come together and fall apart, with different motivations and benefits rising to the surface at different moments. This book sheds new light on how goodness and prestige, personal and altruistic motivations, interact to produce value for individuals and institutions"--