Guidebook: Mastering Persuasion Techniques
In her new book, "The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design, Nation, and Empire in Modern Japan," Gennifer Weisenfeld, the Walter H. Annenberg Distinguished Professor, offers an insightful exploration of Japanese advertising design from the early 1900s through the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
The book delves into the intricate interplay between corporate advertising and nation-building, revealing how visual design served as a form of ideological persuasion that aligned with national and imperial narratives. Weisenfeld's analysis encompasses the transformation of Japan's visual culture and artistic production across both the prewar and postwar periods, as modern corporations and consumer capitalism took hold.
The evolution of graphic design as a form of "persuasion" and cultural expression is another key aspect of this study. Weisenfeld shows how advertising incorporated both global modernist trends and distinctly Japanese aesthetic elements, creating a hybrid visual language that communicated new consumer identities and national pride.
The 1964 Tokyo Olympics emerge as a pivotal moment in the book, with Japanese advertising and design being showcased on the world stage. This event reflected Japan's postwar recovery, modernization, and international rebranding.
Weisenfeld's work is cross-disciplinary, drawing from art history, cultural studies, political history, and design theory to examine how advertising design functioned politically, socially, and aesthetically as a form of persuasion that shaped consumer behavior and national identity.
The book is richly illustrated with case studies to support its arguments, offering an interdisciplinary framework that illuminates the importance of Japanese advertising design within twentieth-century global visual culture.
If you're interested in learning more about the role of advertising design in Japan's nation- and empire-building, you can purchase Gennifer Weisenfeld's book, "The Fine Art of Persuasion," at the Duke Press website (
Under the militarist regime of imperial Japan, national politics were effectively commodified and marketed through mass culture. This book provides a fascinating look at how this phenomenon unfolded and how it contributed to the transformation of Japan's visual culture during the 20th century.
- This exploration of Japanese advertising design in Gennifer Weisenfeld's book, "The Fine Art of Persuasion," extends beyond corporate numeracy to the realm of education-and-self-development, offering insights into the global visual culture and the evolution of artistic production.
- The book delves into the intersection of entertainment and learning, showcasing how advertising design, serving as a form of ideological persuasion, communicated new consumer identities and national pride through the incorporation of both global modernist trends and distinctly Japanese aesthetic elements.
- For those eager to broaden their understanding of art and its role in shaping nation-building, the onset of the global visual culture, or simply the intriguing interplay between politics, culture, and design, Gennifer Weisenfeld's book, "The Fine Art of Persuasion," available at the Duke Press website, is an engaging resource for further study.
