The prospect and schizogenesis: A Batesonian perspective on the implications of the double-bind in advertising messages

Abstract

The author argues that current trends in advertising, particularly an increased reliance on complex destabilizing metaphors, have produced a double-bind situation within target audiences that has resulted, as per Gregory Bateson's description of the schizogenic process, in schizophrenic communication patterns being fed back to advertisers. Links are made to the roots of ironic consumption and other paradoxical tensions in consumer behavior. © 2004, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.