This is an innovative book that addresses the question of how consumers make decisions about what is good and what is bad in popular culture.

• An entertaining and informative guide to the range of aesthetic criteria that goes into judging mass culture's most celebrated texts and objects - from Batman to motor bikes, and pop stars to internet pornography
• Brings together a series of accessible and engaging essays written by connoisseurs of various areas of popular culture
• Tackles the core question of how consumers make decisions about what is good popular culture and what is bad popular culture
• Offers an entertaining and educative read for academic readers as well as purveyors of culture; moving beyond a 'greatest hits' list of popular culture to debate broader issues.

Alan McKee is Associate Professor of Creative Industries at Queensland University of Technology. He is the author of Textual Analysis: A Beginner’s Guide (2003) and The Public Sphere: An Introduction (2005).