The advertising industry in Turkey :|the field, history and recent trajectory

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the advertising industry in Turkey from a historical and sociological standpoint. Unlike earlier works on advertising that overwhelmingly employ semiotic and symbolic readings of ads, this study focuses on the production process of advertising. In doing so, I describe and analyze the actors within the field of advertising and the network of relations that span and constitute this field. Unlike the available historical narratives of the advertising field in Turkey, which are mostly produced by the "insiders"- and, as such, "official" historical narratives- this study analyzes the evolution of advertising as a field of cultural production by taking into account other social and economic factors as well as the internal dynamics of the field. In order to do this, I employ sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's "field analysis" as a methodological device. The study shows that advertising field has been historically constituted on a fundamental tension between creativity and commerce in Turkey and it is shaped by the struggles among two dominant groups and peculiar agents in its formation stage. Advertising business was of the entrepreneurial character as a brokerage task in its initial stage and along with the social and economic developments, it is transformed into a cultural production field with an artisanal character. In addition to focusing on the formational stage of advertising, the study examines the recent trajectory of the field and demonstrates the changes in power relations and balances of capital in the field depending on foreign agency partnerships and globalization.