Chapter VIII: ViralExperiences: Do You Trust Your Friends?

Shenja van der Graaf
Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Abstract

This chapter signals the implications of a shift in production and distribution practices of online advertising in an age of computer network-facilitated participation. It explores online entertainment forms such as games and films that are increasingly being used as an integral part of online advertising strategies to promote goods and services to potential consumers. These 'advertainments,' as they are often referred to, exemplify the linkage of commercial goals with cultural texts through creating engaging experiences, initiated by commercial corporations for solid reasons of promotion and profit, enabled by computer networks, and given form by various members of the public.