This article traces the history of commercial attempts to merge olfactory mediated scents with visual media and the ensuing turn toward domestic olfactory mediation. From the earliest attempts at scented cinema to the emergence of consumer-grade odor mediating products as Little Trees and Glade, we conceptualize smell as a neglected site ripe for critical media analysis. We argue that the commercial rise of domestic odor mediating technology, such as air fresheners, facilitate a unique form of nature-based simulation where audiences desire the fake over the real and confuse familiar natural odors.

This article utilizes critical political economy to examine how The Coca-Cola Company (Coke) constructs healthy or "natural" messages on food labels and other promotional texts to advertise non-carbonated sugary beverage brands (SSBs) owned by the company. The labeling histories and controversies of two products in particular, VitaminWater and Simply Orange Juice, are analyzed as case studies to illustrate how companies such as Coke have liberally labeled SSBs as healthy with little legal consequence. What results from labeling-related deception are consumers at risk of making ill-informed decisions about their health. However, the cases examined here reveal that current labeling regulation does little to deter from this behavior and allows for the proliferation of misleading claims.

The effectiveness of menu calorie labeling in limiting the amount of calories selected has been called into question since it was mandated within the Affordable Care Act. This study examined how contexts that are known to influence motivational and information processing might limit the effectiveness of calorie labeling in order to shed some light on the mixed findings in this area. An online experiment was conducted in which calorie labels were paired or not paired with visual cues in different motivational contexts: greater and lesser variety and energy density choices available. Results contribute to the general conclusion that calorie labels are not particularly effective. Specifically, the only context in which a calorie label succeeded in reducing calories selected was a high variety mix of low and high energy density foods with visual food cues present; however, this type of context elicited the greatest number of calories selected on average, even more than when only highly energy density items were present. The findings from this study add to the body of knowledge about the effectiveness of calorie labeling by defining some boundary conditions on whether and when the presence of calorie labels are likely to reduce caloric intake. This knowledge is helpful in furthering food selection and choice research, but also may help health practitioners design effective intervention strategies.

This critical qualitative case study interrogates the roles Barstool Sports and its founder, Dave Portnoy, serve in reaffirming the narrative power of conservative cultural ideology in mainstream US sports media. Portnoy's targeted harassment of female journalists is analyzed as examples of how the outlet alienates critics of heteronormative, hypermasculine discourse within relevant cultural arenas in digital sports media. To examine how the company deflects criticisms of misogyny, we explore Barstool Chicks-an alternative version of the company's website targeting female audiences. Resultantly, Barstool and Portnoy undermine the potential for feminist-driven narratives in sports media and contribute to the normalization of repressive conditions within cultural industries that perpetuates the continued dominance of conservative ideology.

This manuscript examines the sourcing practices of climate change editorials published in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today between 2014 and 2017. Utilizing a critical political economic approach, we found that despite the ideological differences between the newspapers, each relied on sourcing practices that emphasized the views of elite political and economic actors with often no scientific training. Furthermore, our examination indicates a shared interest in politicizing scientific debates through weaponized sourcing practices that undermine science in favor of partisanship.

Using a critical political-economic approach informed by socialist feminist methodology, this analysis enriches previous research concerning sports media representations of women’s basketball. Prioritizing the narrative material provided by those who have experienced the NBAs unequal treatment of its women’s league through the establishment of what was deemed the “market rate” for such a product allows one to critique the secondary status of women’s sports and its normalization. Influenced by Hemmings’ historiographic approach to feminist storytelling, I contend that narratives can be central to critical political-economic analysis by comparing the contested politics of the present with the supposed “truth of the past’”. An example of this insight emerges from the stories of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi detailed in ESPN ’s 30 for 30 podcast episode titled “The Spy Who Signed Me.” By extending the focus of political economic analysis into realms of subjective, material experience, this approach seeks to empower counter-resistance narratives created by professional WNBA players while also acknowledging the structural barriers that limit their agency at meso and micro levels. While the experiences shared by Bird and Taurasi are unique to the specific historical circumstances in which they occurred, they are critical in challenging patriarchal narratives concerning the WNBA within mainstream U.S. sports media.