Reichert, Tom

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REICHERT, Tom

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: University of Missouri, B.J., 1988; University of Arizona, M.A. (communications), 1993; University of Arizona, Ph.D. (communications), 1997.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Prometheus Books, 59 John Glenn Dr., Amherst, NY 14228-2197.

CAREER:

Educator and author. Orange County Register, salesperson; University of North Texas, former professor of advertising sales and promotion; University of Alabama, currently assistant professor of advertising and public relations. Also worked as a political consultant.

AWARDS, HONORS:

J. Walter Thompson research grant.

WRITINGS:

(With Susan E. Morgan and Tyler R. Harrison) From Numbers to Words: Reporting Statistical Results for the Social Sciences, Allyn and Bacon (Boston, MA), 2002.

(Editor with Jacqueline Lambiase) Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Mahwah, NJ), 2003.

The Erotic History of Advertising, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 2003.

Contributor to books, including Encyclopedia of Advertising, and to periodicals, including Journal of Communication, Journal of Advertising, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Sexuality & Culture,.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tom Reichert is an assistant professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Alabama, as well as the author of The Erotic History of Advertising. His first published book, the coauthored From Numbers to Words: Reporting Statistical Results for the Social Sciences, is a reference tool for students on quantitative experiments and investigations; he has also coedited Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal, a book geared for an academic readership.

In Sex in Advertising Reichert and co-editor Jacqueline Lambiase combine fifteen essays by various well-respected scholars and popular writers that discuss sexuality in advertising, from the common physiological and psychological responses to such ads and issues of gender differences and representation to the inclusion of subliminal sexually oriented messages. The book proposes that about one-fifth of all forms of advertising utilize an obvious sex-driven approach to sell their products. The book brings together varying viewpoints and perspectives on the issue, providing readers with a well-rounded approach to the topic. A reviewer for American Scientist stated that some of the concepts presented in the book "offer a disturbing view of our cultural landscape. Whether or not one agrees with the authors' conclusions," the critic added, the essays included "provide interesting food for thought."

The Erotic History of Advertising picks up where Sex in Advertising leaves off, as Reichert delves further into the actual advertising process and the development of campaigns designed to promote products like beer, cars, and blue jeans that frequently utilize sex as a selling tool. Reichert traces such advertising strategies back 150 years, and argues that erotic imagery has been used in advertising to sell products for much longer than most consumers might think. He provides readers with examples of advertisements featuring semi-clad women posing with tobacco products as early as the late nineteenth century.

"Although Reichert doesn't delve fully into the social ramifications of the constant rise of and backlash against overt sexuality in advertising or how the ads are targeted differently at men and women, he provides a fun, accessible survey of a subject everyone's familiar with," commented a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, reflecting the view of several critics that The Erotic History of Advertising would serve general readers as a source of interesting browsing.