I'm doing a public talk about my book at CITAP (@citap.bsky.social) on Thursday. Come by if you're in the area or watch the livestream if you're not: citap.unc.edu/events/lee-mcg…

Next Thurs: Toronto launch of Lee McGuigan's Selling the American People: Advertising, Optimization, and the Origins of Adtech. Fun to co-organize w Nicole Cohen Thank u ICCIT, Communication and Digital Media Studies and ITS! Will be a full house--only a few tickets remain: eventbrite.ca/e/selling-the-…

giving a (virtual) talk at UToronto this Weds on my work with Amanda Parsons ! Join to hear about data value + how law structures but misunderstands the messy processes companies use to cultivate data's prediction value and convert it (or not!) into wealth and power

And the fascinating paper "The after party: Cynical resignation in Adtech's pivot to privacy" by Lee McGuigan Sarah Myers West Ido Sivan-Sevilla and P. Parham is here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11… Both pieces contribute substantially to research on #privacy cynicism and #digital resignation

Assistant Professor Lee McGuigan's latest page-turner, “Selling the American People: Advertising, Optimization, and the Origins of Adtech,” explains how the advertising industry learned to dream of optimization and speak in the idiom of management science. Lee McGuigan

New paper on adtech's "privacy" maneuvers. Shows that platforms define privacy narrowly and in ways that extend their commercial power in media systems. With Ido Sivan-Sevilla @ynotez journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14…

In "The after party: Cynical resignation in Adtech’s pivot to privacy" Lee McGuigan, Sarah Myers West, Ido Sivan-Sevilla & Patrick Parham ask how the #digitaladvertisingindustry is coping with the increasing salience of #privacy. Check it out! 👉 buff.ly/47VMsw1

My first solo authored publication is among the bunch! 🥹 It’s called “You Can’t Fight What’s Already Happening, Right?”: A Case Study of Christian Live-Streaming. I can’t believe it’s finally live! This is my thesis baby all grown up ☝🏾✨ brill.com/view/journals/…

This year was unusually stuffed with great books about tech + society, so I considered myself contractually obligated to generate some best-of list content about it 10 essential tech books of 2023, including Malcolm Harris's Palo Alto, Naomi Klein's Dopelganger + lots others:

You heard it from Brian Merchant —Lee McGuigan’s Selling the American People is tops!!

My review of Lee McGuigan's fab book "Selling the American People: Advertising, Optimization, and the Origins of Adtech," in H-Net Reviews. Lots of detailed & cogent history; see also Ch 1 for a description & critique of current AdTech logics. networks.h-net.org/group/reviews/…

Super excited to see this very sharp and generous review of my book by Matthew P McAllister. It's the opposite of humbling to get a positive review from a giant in the field, so I'll be insufferable for the near future.

This is such a fantastic review by @JenMHessler! I'm honored!

Lee's book on the ad industry – Selling the American People (Lee McGuigan) – is a perfect case study for understanding how the science / ideology of (algorithmic) optimization broke free from military planning and became a set of universal solutions to be applied everywhere.

I had a blast talking with This Machine Kills!

I'll be in Philly on Friday to talk about my book. Come watch me roast all my former teachers and classmates!

Who are the best critical scholars (or journalists, etc.) of advertising to read? People asking "what / why is this" rather than "how you can do more of this better"

New publication out with icsjournal by me + Zari Taylor Jacob Smith & #courtlynpippert for special issue on platforms power and friction eds. Pawel Popiel & #krishnanvasudevan tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.10…

I'm looking for research participants!! Were you affected personally or professionally when companies like Adobe or Microsoft switched from software sales to a subscription model? Please rt and hit me up or reply if you'd like to share an experience for my book on subscription