Advertising and Society

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Are consumerist impulses within contemporary society so strong that they regulate the way we characterize different groups, especially the poor? Does advertising accurately portray our notions of poverty? Are individuals most valuable as contributing consumers within our society? Consider the impact of such depictions of poverty and class within the discourse of advertising. Is it a larger reflection on the value of citizens and their value within society? Develop your own argument. Be sure to include a current definition of advertising, as it does change as the industry progresses.

Each term paper on Advertising and Society will explore material presented in lecture in further detail. Students will be expected to do some original research to support the development of your independent and well-informed argument, but must apply theory and some of the suggested readings listed in the essay assignment here as additional resources. There is a large advertising industry in America as we have become a nation of consumers.

Appropriate notation techniques will be required. Please note that this includes ALL OF YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS. The proper usage of the English language is essential. The written component of your work will be evaluated and poor writing will detract from the overall presentation and the final mark.

History of Advertising and Society

Advertising was first used by the early Egyptians to make a poster type ad. Large walls and rocks were also used to advertise a service, home made product or produce. Its interesting to note that most people could not read and these early ads were mostly pictures. In the medieval days, town criers were used to gather crowds when merchants had products that wanted to move quickly. And of course as the general population became more educated, advertising within the society move to printed sources. Flyers and handbills were the earliest form of advertising that quickly emerged into the daily newspaper.

Additional Resources:

Barber, Benjamin R. 2007. "Infantilizing Consumers" The Coming of Kidults," in Con$umed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole. New York:W.W. Norton & Company, 81-115.
Bauman, Zygmunt. "Haunted house: the `work ethic' was bad enough, says Zygmunt Bauman. But its ghost is even worse." New Internationalist, 289 (April 1997): p24-5.

Bauman, Zygmunt. "Burning of popular fear: the way we define the poor is a reflection of the kind of society we live in, argues Zygmunt Bauman." New Internationalist, 310 (March 1999): p.
cover, 20-3.

Jhally, Sut. Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse, in Andersen, Robin and Lance Strate, eds. 2000. Critical Studies in Media Commercialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 25-26.

McLuhan, Marshall. American Advertising, in Andersen, Robin and Lance Strate, eds. 2000. Critical Studies in Media Commercialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 40-46.

Postman, Neil. The Social Effects of Commercial Television, in Andersen, Robin and Lance Strate, eds. 2000. Critical Studies in Media Commercialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 47- 53.

Schor, Juliet B. Towards a New Politics of Consumption, in Schor, Juliet B. and Douglas B. Holt, eds. 2000. The Consumer Society Reader. New York: The New Press, 446-462.

Turow, Joseph. Segmenting, signaling and Tailoring: Probing the Dark Side of Target Marketing, in Andersen, Robin and Lance Strate, eds. 2000. Critical Studies in Media Commercialism.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 239-249.

Veblen, Thorstein. Conspicuous Consumption, in Schor, Juliet B. and Douglas B. Holt, eds. 2000.

The Consumer Society Reader. New York: The New Press, 187-205.

Williamson, Judith. 2002. Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising.

London: Marion Boyars.

References

Bauman, Zygmunt. 2005. Work, consumerism and the new poor. London: Open University Press. Lears, T. J. Jackson. 1994. Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America.
New York: Basic Books.

Veblen, Thorstein. 1979. Theory of the leisure class. New York: Penguin Books.

Wright, Ronald. 2004. A Short History of Progress. Toronto: Anansi.