Leftist ad-persons and their creative craft: the formation of the advertising field in Turkey from the 1960s to 1980s

Abstract

A socialist advertiser/ adperson sounds very much like a contradiction. However, Turkish advertising was formed as a field from the 1960s to late 1980s by left leaning intellectuals and literary figures associated with the dominant socialist political party of the time. While entrepreneurial and profit-oriented agents were significant initiators, the field was essentially shaped by leftist/ socialist adpersons along with established/ entrepreneurial agents and entered into competition with such profit-oriented actors. Such competition, combined at times with cooperation, led to the creation of a field in the Bourdieusian sense. Thus, analysing the formation of the field, we can go beyond conceptualizing adpersons as mere cultural intermediaries and understand advertising as a social space in which multiple capitals operate. This allows us to reflect on the un(der)theorized work of left(ists) in the making of consumer capitalism during the post war period in Turkey.