Our world is defined by advertisements. They make us smoke, drink, lose weight, buy things we do not need. Of course we see through them - or so we say. So how do advertisments work in today's culture?

Ad Worlds is a readable introduction to the ways ads are produced, transmitted and interpreted, drawing on work in cultural studies, discourse analysis and marketing. It argues that advertising is not monolithic, and illustrates the complex and unpredictable effects of ads as they travel through different worlds - the client's, the agency's, and the medium's - before ultimately reaching ours. Challenging the view of advertising as an homogenous and all-powerful institution, Greg Myers focuses on the interactions that shape an ad, its circulation, and the responses to it. With each chapter centred on an analysis of a memorable commercial, the book reveals the author's genuine enjoyment of ads, their ingenuity and excitement.