Mara Einstein is the author of Brands of faith: Marketing religion in a commercial age (Routledge, 2008), a critique of promoting religion in today's consumer-oriented culture. Because of this work, Professor Einstein is now recognized as the authority on marketing religion and spirituality, and has been quoted in numerous publications from the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times to the Atlanta Journal Constitution among many others.

Dr. Einstein has been working in or writing about the media industry for the past 20 years. She has enjoyed stints as an executive at NBC, MTV Networks, and at major advertising agencies working on such accounts as Miller Lite, Uncle Ben's, and Dole Foods. Her first book, Media Diversity: Economics, Ownership and the FCC (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004), was the cause for much debate when research from this work was used by the FCC to redefine the media ownership rules. In addition to being an Associate Professor at Queens College, she is also an adjunct associate professor at the Stern School of Business at NYU, as well as being an independent marketing consultant.

Current research is concentrated in two areas: media and religion, and children and media. In terms of religion, the most recent work builds on the work of Brands of Faith, which asked the question "what happens when you market religion?" Now the question is Òwhat happens when you market service, a fundamental component of faith?Ó This is being examined through the rapid growth in corporate social responsibility (CSR). As for children and the media, Prof. Einstein is currently working on Dr. Einstein's Smart Girls Media Diet (working title), a book that helps parents teach media literacy to their school-aged daughters.

mara_einstein@hotmail.com
www.brandsoffaith.com