The military audience commodity: reopening the blindspot debate

This thesis attempts to establish the existence of the military audience commodity, while simultaneously reopening and addressing the shortcomings of the “blindspot” debate concerning Dallas Smythe’s concept of the audience commodity. Organized around three pillars of the blindspot debate – the role of the state, industry, and labour – this thesis argues that the U.S. military plays a role to play in “putting audiences to work”. An historical analysis is augmented by a case study of the Pentagon's recent “America Supports You” public relations campaign. It is argued that attending to the social and cultural specificities of this case study provide novel ways to expand the political economic theory of the audience commodity.