Popular Culture Review Vol. 23, No. 2, Summer 2012 | Page 102

98 Popular Culture Review to duplicate the results from his New Jersey movie theater experiment and later admitted that his findings had embellished data. Moreover, popular resentment over the use of subliminal messages as manipulative marketing contributed to banishing it as an accepted form of communication. Regardless, subliminal messaging has recurrently appeared in both scholarly and popular discussions. A notable example: the 2000 election, which was at least temporarily diverted by allegations that ads on behalf of Republican candidate George W. Bush had subliminally referenced the word “rats” as a subtext for “Democrats.” The other samples Acland offers of subliminal messaging during its heyday in the late 1950s, as well as its continued (but marginalized) uses since then, are a mix of fun and weird. His style combines a rich historiography with popular and obscure symbols to create an informative and entertaining read. Acland, a communication studies professor at Concordia University in Montreal, is the author of Screen Traffic: Movies, Multiplexes, and Global Culture (2003) and co-editor of Useful Cinema (2011), both of which are also published by Duke University Press. Gregory A. Borchard, University of Nevada, Las Vegas The Bride Factory: Mass Media Portrayals o f Women and Weddings Erika Engstrom Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2012 There is some sort of lure in reality programming that can suck in even those who firmly believe that sort of media presentation is the worst dreck ever presented to a mass audience. And what could be more alluring than programs about weddings? It’s an event that many of us will participate in at least once in our lifetimes: whether as bride/groom, as an attendant, or an observer. There’s something very appealing about being able to take a look behind the scenes, watching drama unfold on the way to the big event. As an event grounded in a reality that most of us can relate to, in one way or another, there is almost nothing to equal a wedding as a spectacle, except perhaps for reality drug rehabilitation programs (but that’s another story entirely). It’s a cultural event, one that brings all of us together, in one form or another. While The Bride Factory: Mass Media Portrayals o f Women and Weddings (Erika Engstrom) doesn’t contain itself to television media only, the fact is that today the majority of media consumed is on television, with the internet running in second place. Overall, the book is a fascinating look at