Advertising Consumer Culture in 1930s Shanghai: Globalization and Localization in<i>Yuefenpai</i>

Abstract

China's current experiences with globalism, localism, and advertising can be informed by a consideration of earlier encounters with these forces in Shanghai of the 1930s. In this paper, we examine a popular advertising medium of the time: the poster ad, or yuefenpai. These ads are analyzed semiotically, with a focus on the different ways in which the global transformed and was transformed by traditional Chinese culture in Old Shanghai. Implications for the role of advertising in transforming society are also discussed.