The first part of this essay analyses the relation between advertising, culture, and the commodification process involved in the "creation" of a mass culture market. The second part of this paper considers the significance of Walter Benjamin's "Age of Mechanical Reproduction" with regards to contemporary news and information resources, and argues that the social and political significance of a current event is easily - if not dangerously so - manipulated by contemporary technologies, and mass media strategies. 13 pgs. 4 sources.
