Module Directory

This module forms a core component of the MA Advertising, Marketing and the Media. It draws on the expanding body of sociological, historical and cultural scholarship on advertising and consumer society. In doing so, the module explores the organisational and institutional structures of the advertising industry since the late nineteenth century, focusing on the growth of the service advertising agency in Britain and North America.

The module charts the internationalisation of advertising through the twentieth century and the rise of global advertising and brand promotion in more recent times. It also reflects on the economic role of advertising in supporting other media and the forms of professional knowledge, expertise and workplace cultures of the industry. Alongside these empirical concerns, the module also seeks to reflect theoretically on advertising as a market device and creative practice.

The aims of this module are:

• To develop a historical understanding of advertising as a commercial practice.


• To explore the institutional and organisational structures of the industry.


• To explore the international and global dynamics of advertising.


• To develop an understanding of the emergence of particular cultures of selling and promotion and the expert knowledge associated with them.


• To develop an advanced understanding of advertising as a commercial and creative practice.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the historical formation of Anglo-American advertising and service advertising agencies;


2. Demonstrate an understanding of forms of professional self-organisation within advertising and its forms of occupational identity;


3. Demonstrate an understanding of the competing forms of advertising remuneration and the creative challenges of competing advertising media;


4. Problematize ideas of consumer sovereignty and commercial domination;


5. Demonstrate an understanding of the theorization of creativity and the ways in which it is organised and understood within advertising practice;


6. Understand the competing forms of commercial sociology deployed within advertising.

Syllabus

• Introduction: How do you study Advertising?


• The Rise of the Advertising Agency.


• International and Global Advertising.


• Brands and Branded Corporations.


• Advertising and Media Forms Workshop.


• Understanding the Consumer.


• Genres of Persuasion.


• Cultural Intermediaries and the World of Advertising.


• Advertising and Creativity.


• Review of module and Essay Preparation

This module will be delivered via:

• One 2-hour seminar each week.

Attendance in person is expected.