Principles of Advertising

 

Principles of Advertising

Fall 1999

Thomas Gould
Fall 1999 310 McCain
9:30-10:45, Tuesdays and Thursdays 532-3449
tgould@ksu.edu
Office Hours: 3:30 - 5:30 Wednesday,
or by appointment

 

What You Will Learn
Materials to Help You Learn
How You Will Demonstration What You Have Learned
Class Participation and Attendance
Grades
Class Schedule
Interesting Links

What you will learn

Advertising in the post-Cold War world has become the dominant form of communication. It overpowers culture, obliterates national boundaries, and drives capitalist values, while, at the same time, favoring the status quo and rewarding the cautious and predictable. It is reasonable to assume that as previously "sheltered" cultures are exposed through television to this global advertising culture -- largely Western (and within this, largely American) -- the youth within these cultures will adopt the inherent values and culture reflected in that advertising. We are witnessing the rise of something more powerful than One World Government: One World Advertising, and with it, One World Culture. Thus, the study of advertising is also the study of culture, ethics, and power.


This course is a general survey of the field of advertising. It is the first course in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication's advertising sequence and the prerequisite for all other courses in the sequence. It is also an appropriate and useful course for students who are not in the advertising sequence and who want to learn more about advertising. The course has no prerequisites.

In the course, you will learn that advertising is more than just ads you see on television or in print. Advertising is a process that starts with research, and moves through analysis, planning, action and evaluation. Increasingly, "advertising" also includes forms of marketing communication other than traditional advertisements. As the statement above suggests, for many corporations, advertising has become global, and we will consider that aspect as well.

The readings and class discussions will introduce you to the process of advertising. You will also learn how to use some of the basic research sources used in advertising. The cooperative learning project will require you to do the kind of strategic thinking, planning and execution that is done by marketers, researchers, media planners and copywriters.

It will also be fun.

You will learn about the institutions of advertising -- agencies, media, and advertisers -- and how they work together to produce advertising. You will learn how advertising institutions and practices have developed. You will learn about those topics through assigned readings and discussions.

Throughout the course, you will learn how advertising is regulated and learn about key social issues and consumer problems with advertising. You will learn about those topics through the assigned readings and class discussions.

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Materials to help you learn

Advertising Principles: Choice, Challenge, Change by Bruce G. Vanden Bergh and Helen Katz (Lincolnwood, IL:NTC, (1999)).

Assigned readings from various sources. These will be on file in the school library and available online (perhaps) through the class schedule.

This course will include several online assignments, including web site readings. Again, refer to the schedule for daily assignments.

Contrary to popular belief -- at times subscribed to my me -- merely owning a book is not sufficient. Your text book will be an invaluable guide in this course only if you actually read it. This text has been used by classes before you and has been found very useful. Of some note, you will find that your ability to participate in class and fully appreciate the daily discussions will be greatly enhanced if you read the text.

To this end, it is essential that you read the assigned material before class. It is important that you read everything in the book, including the case study challenges at the beginning and end of each chapter, captions under all exhibits, and boxed material. Instead of lecturing, I may at times ask you questions about the assigned material, and I will not always rely on volunteers who raise their hand to answer. I will call on you whether you volunteer to answer or not.

Second, you should bring your book to class every day because we will frequently discuss cases and other material from the chapters.

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How you will demonstrate what you learn

You will have different ways to demonstrate what you learn in this course. One, I expect you to do the assigned reading in advance of the specified date. I expect students to take active participation in class discussions, and I will call on individual students to answer questions and discuss material from assigned readings. Make sure you can participate fully in such discussions and demonstrate what you have learned from the reading. I also urge you to come to class with questions and opinions about advertising you see or are curious about. Consequently, you should pay increased attention to advertising and relate it to what we are talking about in class.

Two, you will three small quizzes (10 minutes) to test whether you are keeping up with the reading. These will be held before classes and generally amount to a question on assigned reading or the previous day's lecture. They will count 5% each (15% total) of your grade.

Three, you will have a mid-term and a final exam over materials from class discussion and the textbook. The mid-term will contain 50 multiple choice questions and will count for 35% of your final grade. The final will be comprehensive, contain 100 multiple choice questions and will count for 40%.

 

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Class attendance and participation

I believe learning is enhanced by active involvement in class discussion and activities. That's why I will ask questions to elicit your opinions and knowledge of the reading material. It is impossible to participate in class without attending class (as proved by Einstein). I would add only that attendance and grades on exams have been found to be highly correlated.

I ask for your cooperation in being seated when class begins at 9:30 p.m. It is distracting to me and other students if students come in and sit down after class begins. If you are unavoidably late, please find the first seat available, rather than walking across the classroom to join your friends.

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Determinants of your course grade

Mid-term exam: 35 percent

Final exam: 40 percent

Quizzes: 15 percent

Class participation: 10 percent


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Copyright 1999 Thomas Gould
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