Media and Advertising MA

University of Leicester

This module engages with the major controversies surrounding advertising in contemporary society, and you'll be analysing the theory behind them, then applying them to advertising texts and campaigns. You'll be critically evaluating commercial and non-profit advertising case studies to understand their socio-cultural relevance in relation to existing cultural theories. By critiquing advertising we can better understand ourselves and society, as well as identify, recognise and analyse ideologies that are present within our culture. You'll be carrying out theory informed research on various advertising related topics of your choosing to deepen your understanding of this field.

There are many changes currently taking place in the sphere of advertising and promotion, and this module will help you to understand this shift. You?ll analyse different digital formats and look at how digital media has spread to an international context. This will help you to analyse the relationship between production and consumption of new advertising and promotional forms, with specific reference to their features and strategies. Search ads, display ads, video ads and mobile ads will be used to ground your theories using real case studies. You?ll also identify new and hybrid forms of digital advertising and promotion across different media platforms, such as branded contents, native advertising and product placement to understand how advertising and promotion has progressed.

You?ll be exploring all aspects involved with advertising and media, from its origins and social impact to how agencies function. This module starts by looking at the birth, history and development of the advertising industry, with specific reference to the rise of consumer culture and changing economic, social, political factors. Evaluating advertising and its appearance across different social media outlets, from traditional to new media, will give you a better understanding of how brands and products interact with customers. This will lead on to discussions about how the contemporary advertising industry works and how agencies are linked with different types of advertisers, sponsors, markets and consumers. Lastly, you?ll develop and awareness of the regulations, ethics and professional standards which operate in today?s advertising world.

During this module you?ll explore and assess many of the theories behind media research that you can apply to your own studies. You?ll start by exploring the basic concepts widely used in the research process, and the nature of the research process. Looking at how research paradigms and epistemologies impact upon research will help you to develop your own methods, and critically analyse your work. In seminars you?ll discuss and apply the principles of research ethics to media and communication research contexts and real-life cases studies. Learning how to collect, manage, analyse and interpret social science research data, will help you to assess the benefits and drawbacks of methodological tools used in research.

In this dissertation you will get the opportunity to independently and critically delineate and assess a body of theory or research within the field of media and communication. By formulating your own relevant research questions, you will outline your chosen area of debate and research for critical examination.

This module critically evaluates how the professions and practices of promotion have reshaped much of our contemporary world. Promotional culture is everywhere and everything has become promotable through the deployment of public relations, advertising, marketing and branding. The module draws on a range of case studies to address a rich and diverse set of promotional practices across the corporate, public, political, civil society and charitable sectors in a globalised world. By using your empirical analytical skills in reading promotional texts and images, you'll gain a deeper understanding of this topic. The module provides an introduction to the academic literature on Promotional Culture in the first lecture, followed by a range of case study examples that illustrate the ways in which PR and Advertising complement each other, or are strategically related. Some of the ideas you'll look at will include Activism, Transnational NGO Advocacy, Political Campaigning, Sport and Technology.