JOUR4274W

Advertising in Society asks students to think about the ways that advertising intersects with cultural and political life in the 21st century, examining the influence of advertising from many perspectives—legal, constitutional, social and ethical. This course tackles a variety of current topics in advertising, including the many other powerful social institutions that advertising underpins (such as journalism and entertainment content), the role of American political advertising, the way advertising depicts gender and sexuality, the obligations of advertisers toward vulnerable audiences, and the ethics and impact of increasingly pervasive personalized hyper-niche ads on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. This course helps students learn how to conduct thorough analyses of issues, develop positions on issues, and present coherent and convincing arguments for the positions they have taken.