Mass Communication 223

Course Outline

Length of Course: One semester (14 weeks)
 
Classroom Hours Per Week: 4 hours lecture
 
Number of Credits: 3 credits
 
Prerequisite: Mass Communication 110 or 130 and English 100
 
Description of Course:
This course is an introduction to the analysis of advertising as social communication. The course will provide a historical perspective on the emergence of "consumerism" as an idea and cultural practice communicated through advertising. It will examine how mass mediated advertising and marketing practices produce stylized narrations by which the social world is reimagined as a world of consumption. The course starts with an overview of contemporary debates about consumerism and the changing psychological and cultural dynamics of consumption in the market society. It goes on to examine the history of advertising in the context of the development of consumer culture. The course then examines the design  of advertising messages and the communication strategies used to promote circulation of goods, and provides applied methods of interpreting and decoding ads. The course concludes with a discussion of advertising's role in the construction of "globalized" culture and communication.
 
Course Outline:
Week 1
Introduction, Key concepts, Advertising as Social Communication
 
Week 2
Privileged Discourse Through and about Objects. Two senses in which this discourse is privileged. Other privileged discourses
L.K.J. Ch 1
Week 3
Critiques and Defences of Advertising. Neo-liberal critiques, Neo-liberal and Marxist critiques; Pluralist and industry defences
Ch 2 and 3
Week 4
History of Consumer Culture I: Transition from industrial to consumer society. Rise of mass mediated communication. Origins of advertising industry
Ch 4
Week 5
History of Consumer Culture II Development of agencies. Connection between agencies and media. Role of audience.
Ch 5
Week 6
Bonding of Media and Advertising. How interests of media and advertising converge in North American mass media. Historical typology. Construction of contemporary media/commercial audience.
Ch 6 and 7
Week 7
MID-TERM EXAM
 
Week 8
Decoding Ads I: Ways of Seeing. Language and Images. Advertising and history of image making.
TBA
Week 9
Decoding Ads II: Introduction to codes. Person, product, setting, text. Methods of interpretation
TBA
Week 10
Decoding Ads III: Semiotics
Ch 8
Week 11
Decoding Ads IV: Mythology, ideology. Content analysis Basic ad formats
Ch 9
Week 12
Privileged Discourse II: Advertising and Politics. Social advertising
Ch 12
Week 13
Privileged Discourse III: Advertising and Globalization
Ch 10, 11 and 13
 
Evaluation:
Midterm Exam 25%
Final Exam 25%
Ad Analysis Project/Essay 25%
In-Class Presentation 15%
Participation 10%
 
Text:
Social Communication in Advertising , Leiss, Kline, Jhally, New York Routledge 4th edition
Further readings to be assigned in class
 
Transferability:
SFU: Cmns 223(3)
UBC: Arts 2nd (3)
UVic: SOSC 200 level (1.5 units)
 
Instructors:
Norbert Ruebsaat, B.A. British Columbia), M.A. (Simon Fraser)
Ian Chunn, B.A., M.A. (Toronto), B.Ed. (British Columbia)