Over the past two decades, television ads have become the highlight of Americas annual

Super Bowl game. While millions tune in to watch a championship competition between two
elite football teams, millions more watch to see how creatively and humorously advertisers
can pitch their products. Some of these advertisements have transformed both products and
spokespeople into cultural icons, from Budweiser and Apple computers to Betty White and
the Old Spice Man.

How did advertisers accomplish this?
What makes something or someone culturally relevant?
What stereotypes, if any, did advertisers draw upon to get peoples attention?
What does it mean to buy an Apple computer, drink Budweiser or wear Old Spice
cologne?
Furthermore, what do the existence and necessity of these expensive ads reveal about
American culture in general?

These are the kinds of questions asked by people engaged in cultural studies.

Cultural studies are an interdisciplinary field of research that examines the cultural
context, elements and impact of messages that emanate from the media. In a broader
sense, it focuses on the means by which society creates meaning and attaches it to
everyday objects, ideas and practices. Researchers then determine how such objects and
ideas either transform or reinforce culture by relating to aspects of ideology, ethnicity, social
class and gender.

Rather than analyzing one culture in particular, cultural studies scholars seek instead to
understand culture in general: its forms, history, political context and origins. Founded in the
1960s by theorists Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams, E.P. Thompson and Stuart Hall,
cultural studies embraces several different methodological approaches and
philosophies, including postmodernism, hermeneutics, post-structuralism,
pragmatism and Marxism. Its research encompasses literary criticism, communication,
political science, sociology, economics and cultural anthropology. As such, it has no unified
theory or tradition.