Furthering the dialogue about the growing power of commercialization and consumerism from a variety of perspectives and methodologies, this special issue contains a meticulously-researched account of the early battles waged over advertising regulation. It also includes articles examining the phenomenon of home shopping channels to determine how issues of social class are incorporated into their sales discourse, and showing how, since the 1970s, the discourse of ads in Hong Kong have changed from a celebration of more traditional Chinese values to a celebration of more Western, consumer values. This issue also provides a focus on a subject often missing from studies of advertising and consumer culture--the advertising creatives themselves.

At Play presents a collection of work illustrating the wide scope of intellectual dialogue surrounding digital games, as they have become a focal point for the media in recent years and have increasingly become an area of study in academia. Contributors to this special issue represent an international landscape, and include founders of the game studies area, as well as new researchers who are already infl uencing the fi eld. All of the articles are situated within important areas of communication theory and research, covering such topics as how games impact media economics and cross-media influence on the development of a new medium; the promise and challenges of games as documentary media; and the political subtext in games as it relates to the emergence of a new and ever more important form of persuasive interactive media. The range of both theoretical grounding and method of approach offered in this special

This collection examines LEGO from an array of critical and cultural studies approaches, foregrounding the world-renowned brand's ideological power and influence. Given LEGO's status as the world's largest toy manufacturer and a transnational multimedia conglomerate, Cultural Studies of Lego: More Than Just Bricks considers LEGO media's cultural messages; creativity with and within LEGO artifacts; and diversity within the franchise, including gender and race representation. The chapters' in-depth analyses of topics including LEGO films, marketing tactics, play sets, novelizations, and fans offer compelling insights relevant to those interested in the LEGO brand and broader trends in the children's popular culture market alike.

The revised edition of 20 Questions about Youth and the Media is an updated and comprehensive guide to today's most compelling issues in the study of children, tweens, teens and the media. The editors bring together leading experts to answer the kinds of questions an undergraduate student might ask about the relationship between young people and media. In so doing, the book addresses a range of media, from cartoons to the Internet, from advertising to popular music, and from mobile phones to educational television. The diverse array of topics include government regulation, race and gender, effects (both prosocial and risky), kids' use of digital media, and the commercialization of youth culture. This book is designed with the undergraduate youth/children and media classroom in mind, and features accessible writing and end-of-chapter discussion questions and exercises.

Since the first book was signed almost ten years ago, the Mediated Youth series has published nearly two dozen volumes, with more in process or production. This milestone provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on how the series has evolved, how it has contributed to the field, and in which direction(s) it is moving. The chapters reprinted in this volume have been selected to showcase the variety and diversity of topics published in the series. Grounded in cultural studies, they approach mediated youth through the lenses of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, and technology. As a whole, they paint a multi-faceted, complex, and nuanced picture of the relationship between youth and media today, and demonstrate that there is no one, singular "youth." They remind us of the rich diversity of life experiences and media involvements of youth from a range of backgrounds, cultures, and countries. These chapters serve not only as a retrospective collection of scholarship published in Peter Lang's Mediated Youth book series, but also as a roadmap to the diversity of scholarship characterizing the field of youth media studies during these years.