ENGL 151-10, Advertising the American Ideal, Spring 2007

Abstract

How do advertisements convey social, educational, and cultural ideals, and what values are inherent in those ideals? These two basic questions will guide our exploration of the role advertising plays in our society in general and in your life in particular. More specifically, we will consider how advertisements convey ideas about gender roles,race, and socioeconomic status as we explore different advertising markets (singles, kids, sports fans, college students) and different advertising venues( magazines, television, personal ads,and the Internet). How do advertisements get people's attention? What ideals do they suggest their product can offer consumers? What role do they envision their product playing in the world? And what rhetorical, visual, graphic, and aural means do they use to convey such values and ideals? As we explore these issues, we will read different styles and types of essays about advertising, and, of course, we will scrutinize the advertisements themselves. To deepen our understanding, we will analyze, probe,question, challenge, and experiment with the ideas we encounter.