Semester
Summer
Date of Graduation
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
College of Creative Arts
Department
School of Music
Committee Chair
Travis Stimeling
Committee Co-Chair
Matthew Heap
Committee Member
Katie Baker Jones
Committee Member
Michael Vercelli
Abstract
This thesis builds on recent scholarship explaining the relationships between music, advertising, and society through a series of focused case studies in the clothing industry. Globally ubiquitous and reaching all socioeconomic strata, the fashion industry offers a useful focus because, in addition products, it also sells identity. Fashion is a means for individuals to create and express identity by associating themselves with certain brands and styles that help express social, political, economic, and ethical standings as well as gender, sexuality, race, and religion. This thesis considers the ways that sound and music influence the aesthetic and mood of recent fashion industry commercials. Focusing mainly on North American commercials and video advertisements (including those airing on television and across internet streaming services), it explores the various methods and approaches to contemporary commercial music that the fashion industry uses to craft careful messages about environmental sustainability, social power dynamics, and contemporary politics, explaining the ways that these issues are linked. Eschewing an Adornian critique of the culture industry and instead considering all music and sound to be important, regardless of how utilitarian or commodified it may appear to be, this thesis suggests that music plays a key role in linking social issues to music in fashion industry commercials.
Recommended Citation
Brzobohaty, Avery, "It’s Just Muzak: Music, Activism, and Advertising." (2020). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7681.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/7681