This article renews Dallas Smythe’s ‘blindspot’ argument by examining the economy of Google advertising. I argue that Google sells at least three types of commodities: keywords, statistics of keywords, and search results. Through a vertically integrated system, Google sells to advertisers commodities that have no exchange value outside the Google ads system. Moreover, Google creates an ideology that the world’s information is at the users’ fingertips, which encourages users to search more, and hence view more advertisements.
Delaney KJ ( 2006a) Revenue search: in latest deal, Google steps further into world of old media. Wall Street Journal, 18 January, p. A1.
4.
Delaney KJ ( 2006b) Google looks to boost ads with YouTube. Wall Street Journal, 10 October, p. B1.
5.
Delaney KJ ( 2006c) Google tests new ad offerings-but will advertisers follow?Wall Street Journal, 14 December, p. B1.
6.
Delaney KJ ( 2007) FTC clears Google to buy doubleclick: deal would help boost online ad offerings. Wall Street Journal, 21 December, p. A10.
7.
Delaney KJ ( 2008) Google push to sell ads on YouTube hits snags: video site is key to diversification. Wall Street Journal, 9 July, p. A1.
8.
Dou W., Linn R., and Yang S. ( 2001) How smart are ‘Smart Banner’? Journal of Advertising Research41(40): 31-43.
9.
Fine J. and Kerwin AM ( 2004) Google a threat to targeted magazines. Advertising Age75(22): 55.
10.
Garnham N. ( 1979) Contribution to a political economy of mass-communication. Media, Culture and Society1(1): 123-146.
11.
Google (2008) 2008 Annual Report . Mountain View, CA: Google.
12.
Google (2009) What Is ‘Quality Score’ and How It Is Calculated. Available (consulted 18 August 2009) at: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10215
13.
Huang C-Y. and Lin C-S. ( 2006) Modeling the audience’s banner ad exposure for internet advertising planning. Journal of Advertising35(2): 123-136.
14.
Jacobson H. ( 2007) AdWords for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
15.
Jhally S. ( 1982) Probing the blindspot: the audience commodity. Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory6(1/2): 204-210.
16.
Jhally S. and Livant B. ( 1986) Watching as working: the valorization of audience consciousness . Journal of Communication36(3): 124-143.
17.
Karpinski R. ( 2006) Keywords, analytics help define user lifetime value. Advertising Age77(17): S2.
18.
Klaassen A. ( 2007) Giant Google/DoubleClick buddies up to advertisers. Advertising Age78(49): 3, 29 .
19.
Livant B. ( 1979) The audience commodity: on the ‘blindspot’ debate. Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory3(1): 91-106.
20.
Livant B. ( 1982) Working at watching: a reply to Sut Jhally. Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory6(1/2): 211-215.
21.
McAllister MP ( 1996) The Commercialization of American Culture: New Advertising, Control, and Democracy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
22.
Mangalindan M. ( 2003) Seeking growth, search engine Google acts like ad agency . Wall Street Journal, 16 October, p. B1.
23.
Marx K. ( 1995) Capital: A New Abridgement. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
24.
Maxwell R. ( 1991) The image is gold: value, the audience commodity, and fetishism. Journal of Film and Video43(1/2): 29-45.
25.
Meehan ER ( 1984) Ratings and the institutional approach: a third answer to the commodity question. Critical Studies in Mass Communication1(2): 216-225.
26.
Meehan ER ( 1993a) Heads of household and ladies of the house: gender, genre, and broadcast ratings, 1929-1990. In: Solomon WS and McChesney RW (eds) Ruthless Criticism: New Perspectives in U.S. Communication History. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 204-221.
27.
Meehan ER ( 1993b) Commodity audience, actual audience: the blindspot debate . In: Wasko J et al. (eds) Illuminating the Blindspots: Essays Honoring Dallas E. Smythe. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 378-397.
28.
Murdock G. ( 1978) Blindspots about western Marxism: a reply to Dallas Smythe . Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory2(2): 109-119.
29.
Neff J. ( 2008) Google pricing system plagues players like P&G. Advertising Age79(17): 1, 142.
30.
Richardson PS ( 2006) The impact of direct appeals on Clickstream and response at promotional websites. Journal of Website Promotion2(1/2): 37-51.
31.
Richardson PS ( 2007) The impact of organic vs. non-organic headlines on response rate to search ads. Journal of Web Promotion2(3/4): 43-62.
32.
Richmond R. ( 2005) Online ad prices may be overdone. Wall Street Journal, 16 March, p. 1.
33.
Richmond R. ( 2006) Internet advertising goes a step further: Google tests feature that connects consumers and merchants by telephone. Wall Street Journal, 21 February, p. B3.
34.
Rothenberg R. ( 2003) Google showing how we can reinvent internet advertising . Advertising Age74(17): 22.
35.
Smythe DW ( 1977) Communications: blindspot of western Marxism. Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory1(3): 1-27.
36.
Smythe DW ( 1978) Rejoinder to Graham Murdock. Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory2(2): 120-127.
37.
Steel E. ( 2008) Google to offer a tool to measure web hits. Wall Street Journal, 24 June, p. B1.
38.
Striphas T. ( 2009) Kindle: the new book mobile or, the labor of reading in an age of ubiquitous bookselling. Differences and Repetitions . Available (consulted 7 January 2011) at: http://striphas.wikidot.com/kindle-the-labor-of-reading-worksite-v2-0
39.
Stross R. ( 2008) Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know. New York, NY: Free Press.
40.
Sullivan D. ( 2007) Google’s latest power grab (hint: it’s not DoubleClick). Advertising Age78(18): 46.
41.
Vascellaro JE ( 2008) Gap widens in online advertising: rivals struggle to catch up to Google as buys favor search ads over display. Wall Street Journal, 4 September, p. B1.
42.
Wall Street Journal (2006) Special auctions are rolled out to sell ad space in magazines. 10 February, p. 1.
43.
Wasser F. ( 2001) Media is driving work. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture4(5). Available (consulted 30 July 2009) at: http://www.media-culture.org.au/0111/wasser.xml
