MSCH-A315: Advertising & Consumer Culture

Fall 2017
Time: Tues/Thurs 4:00pm5:15pm
Location: TV 226
Instructor: Cole Stratton
Email: stratton@indiana.edu

COURSE SUMMARY

Consumer culture is the everyday reality in which we live: the images and ideas that
circulate on our screens, the objects we buy, the clothes we wear, the technology we use,
the social lives we live. Advertising is fundamental to consumer cultureit fills our
physical environments and virtual spaces, and functions in a variety of important ways: as
a way for producers to create demand for their goods; as the financial foundation for the
media industries; as a cultural medium where ideas about the world circulate; and as an
important source of meaning for the objects that compose our world and that we use for
self-creation.

This class investigates advertising and consumer culture through a multidisciplinary

approach. We will draw on media and cultural studies, history, economics, anthropology,
linguistics, and philosophy in order to make sense of these phenomena. To aid in this
endeavor the class is divided into three sections. Each section is designed to achieve a
specific objective, but all are intended to work together as a whole to provide you with a
set of theoretical lenses and analytical tools, as well as historical context for making
sense of the everyday world around you:

Part 1: Cultural Theory introduces the academic study of culture, and develops an
analytical framework based on linguistics for analyzing and interpreting advertisements.
In this section we will discuss media representation, ideology, semiotics, and the way
meaning is generated through words and images in advertising.

Part 2: History of the Consumer Society focuses on the landmark events and historical
developments that led to the consumer society, and that shape our contemporary
experience of everyday life. This section highlights the tangled relationships between
production, advertising, consumption, and culture.

Part 3: Material Culture focuses on the way objects of mass production become markers
of personal identity, and the way certain objects come to mean certain things for certain
people at certain historical moments. We will use the circuit of culture as a model for
thinking about objects and their sociocultural complexity.

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 ASSIGNMENTS

Attendance/Participation (300 points = 10 points/class)

This class will meet 30 times and each meeting requires (a) attendance, (b) close reading
of the assigned text, (c) a discussion post on Canvas, and (d) active in-class participation.
You will receive a daily grade based on your ability to complete all of these variables.

Textual Analysis (100 points)Due midnight on Saturday, September 30

Advertising is a powerful cultural force within society partly because of its ability to
communicate ideas and shape our interpretation of the world. You will choose an
advertisement and then analyze it using the tools we develop in Part 1 of the class.

Film Analysis (100 points)Due midnight on Saturday, October 28

Hollywood films can be exciting, terrifying, hilarious, or dramatic, but they are always
vehicles for ideas about our world. Many Hollywood films deal directly with
consumerism and actively wrestle with such issues. You will choose a fiction film that
engages with consumption is some way, and analyze how the film explores consumerism
using insights from Part 1 and 2 of the class.

Object Analysis + Presentation (250 points)Due 5:00pm on Tuesday, December 12

Advertising and consumer culture are made material in the physical objects that we buy
and use. By focusing our attention on a specific object, we can trace the way production
and advertising are linked to our consumption of the object, and how our everyday
consumption is part of larger, complex processes of meaning-making and identity
creation within consumer culture. You will choose an object and analyze it using all you
have learned in the class. You will then briefly present your findings to class.

Extra Credit (+2% of final grade)

You have two options:
(a) Participate in an ICR Experiment: Each semester grad students and faculty conduct
experimental research in order to learn more about the processes of communication. They
are in constant need of participants, and you will receive extra credit for agreeing to
participate in an experiment.
(b) Article/chapter analysis: As an alternative to participating in an experiment, you may
instead choose an article or book chapter related to some aspect of the course and write a
2 page summary. You must choose this article or chapter in consultation with your
instructor.

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 COURSE POLICIES

Attendance, participation, and reading are mandatory. You are expected to attend every
class. You will be excused for university-sanctioned absences (e.g. a doctors note), but
you must contact me before class to inform me of the situation. Additionally, you must
show up prepared and fully capable of participating in a discussion related to the reading.
This means not only doing the assigned reading and posting on Canvas, but also thinking
through the class material as it relates to your own life and being prepared to discuss the
practical implications of what we are learning.

Late work will not be accepted. Each assignment is worth a significant amount of your
final grade so it is imperative that you hand them in on-time. You will lose 10% of your
assignment grade for every 24 hours that it is late. If you do not hand it in within 4 days
of the due date you will receive no credit for the assignment.

Academic honesty is mandatory. Plagiarism and cheating will cause you to automatically
fail the course and you will be subject administrative disciplinary action from the
university. Make sure direct quotes are in quotation marks and the original author is cited.

Treat others with respect. The success of this class will depend on everyones ability to
participate in discussions. While disagreement and debate are vital to the learning
process, it is equally vital that we create a shared space in which we all feel comfortable
speaking our minds and sharing our experiences. Be diplomatic in your disagreements.
Recognize that others do not see the world the way you do. Engage in constructive
dialogue. Do not be an asshole.

Do not distract others with your technology. It is highly recommended that you bring an
Internet-enabled device to class. However, be mindful of its ability to distract you and
others. Do not shop or browse Facebook unless it is directly relevant to the class. If
devices become distracting they may be confiscated or banned.

You may challenge your assignment grades. If you feel I have made a mistake in
evaluating your work, I am willing to listen to why you think you deserve a better grade.
But you must do this (a) within one week of receiving your grade, and (b) in-person. If
you wish to challenge a grade, email me or speak with me in class to set up a meeting.

A+ 98-100% C+ 78-79
A 93-97 C 73-77
A- 90-92 C- 70-72
B+ 88-89 D+ 68-69
B 83-87 D 63-67
B- 80-82 D- 60-62

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 COURSE CALENDAR

Week 1: Introduction

Tuesday, August 22: Course Introduction

Thursday, August 24: Advertising & Consumer Culture

Watch: Sut Jhallys Advertising and the End of the World

Part I: Cultural Theory

Week 2: Cultural Studies

Tuesday, August 29: What is Cultural Studies?

Read: Meenakshi Gigi Durham & Douglas Kellner, Adventures in Media and
Cultural Studies

Thursday, August 31: Society & Power

Read: John Fiske, Power Plays

Week 3: Representation

Tuesday, September 5: Representation and Semiotics

Read: Stuart Hall, The Work of Representation Parts 1 & 2

Thursday, September 7: Discourse and Power

Read: Stuart Hall, The Work of Representation Parts 3 & 4

Week 4: The Language of Advertising

Tuesday, September 12: Representation in Advertising

Read: Judith Williamson, Introduction: Meaning as Ideology
Read: Judith Williamson, Part I: Advertising-Work
Read: Judith Williamson, Ch. 1 A Currency of Signs

Thursday: September 14: Representation in Advertising

Read: Judith Williamson, Ch. 2 Signs Address Somebody

Week 5: Reading Advertising

Tuesday, September 19: Textual Analysis

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 Read: Katherine Frith, Undressing the Ad: Reading Culture in Advertising
Read: Elizabeth Lester, Finding the Path to Signification: Undressing a Nissan
Pathfinder Direct Mail Package

Thursday, September 21: Textual Analysis Workshop

Assignment: Bring an ad to class

Part II: History of the Consumer Society

Week 6: Industrialization and the Rise of Modern Advertising

Tuesday, September 26: Creating Consumers

Read: Stuart Ewen, Captains of Consciousness, Part 1: Advertising as Social
Production, Ch. 1, 2 & 3

Thursday, September 28: Creating Consumers

Read: Stuart Ewen, Captains of Consciousness, Part 2: The Political Ideology of
Consumption, Ch. 1 & 3
Watch: A Century of the Self, Part 1

Week 7: Ethos of Consumption

Tuesday, October 3: Consumption as Therapy

Read: T.J. Jackson Lears, Advertising and the Therapeutic Roots of the
Consumer Culture, 1880-1930

Thursday, October 5: Politics of Consumption

Read: Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers Republic: The Politics of Mass
Consumption in Postwar America

Week 8: Origins of the Consumers Republic

Tuesday, October 10: The Citizen Consumer

Read: Lizabeth Cohen, Depression: Rise of the Citizen Consumer

Thursday, October 12: WWII & Reconversion

Read: Lizabeth Cohen, War: Citizen Consumers do Battle on the Homefront
Read: Lizabeth Cohen, Reconversion: The Emergence of the Consumers
Republic

Week 9: Evolution of the Consumer Society

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Tuesday, October 17: Commercial Space
Read: Lizabeth Cohen, Commerce: Reconfiguring Community Marketplaces

Thursday, October 19: Segmentation

Read: Lizabeth Cohen, Culture: Segmenting the Mass

Week 10: Accelerating Consumption

Tuesday, October 24: Globalization and Brands

Watch: Naomi Kleins No Logo: Brands, Globalization, Resistance

Thursday, October 26: Ubiquitous Commerce

Read: Joseph Turow, The Digital Transformation of Physical Retailing: Sellers,
Customers, and the Ubiquitous Internet

Part III: Material Culture

Week 11: Material Culture

Tuesday, October 31: Rethinking Consumption

Read: Daniel Miller, Why Clothing is Not Superficial

Thursday, November 2: The Uses of Goods

Read: Mary Douglas & Baron Isherwood, The Uses of Goods

Week 12: Objects + Ideas

Tuesday, November 7: The Italian Scooter Cycle

Read: Dick Hebdige, Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle

Tuesday, November 9: The Circuit of Culture

Read: Du Gay, et al., Doing Cultural Studies, Introductions

Week 13: Reading Material Culture

Tuesday, November 14: The Sony Walkman

Read: Du Gay, et al., Doing Cultural Studies, Ch. 1 & 2

Thursday, November 16: Object Analysis Workshop

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 Read: Du Gay, et al., Doing Cultural Studies, Ch. 3 & 4
Assignment: Object Analysis Workshop

Week 14: Thanksgiving Break

Tuesday, November 21: NO CLASS

Assignment: Relax

Thursday, November 23: NO CLASS

Assignment: Relax

Week 15: Concluding Thoughts

November 28: Reflecting on the Semester

Read: Du Gay, et al., Doing Cultural Studies, Ch. 5 & 6

November 30: The Environmental Impact of Consumption

Read: Betsy Taylor & Dave Tilford, "Why Consumption Matters"

Week 16: Final Project Presentations

Tuesday, December 5: Object Analysis Presentations

Thursday, December 7: Object Analysis Presentations

Final Exam: Tuesday, December 12 5:00pm7:00pm

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COURSE READINGS

Cohen, L. (2003). A Consumers Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar

America. New York: Vintage Books.

Douglas, M., & Isherwood, B. (1979). The Uses of Goods. In The World of Goods (pp.
5670). New York: Routledge.

du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Madsen, A. K., Mackay, H., & Negus, K. (2013). Doing
Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman (2nd Edition). Los Angeles: Sage.

Ewen, S. (1976). Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the
Consumer Culture. New York: Basic Books.

Fiske, J. (1993). Power Plays. In Power Plays Power Works (pp. 334). New York:
Verso.

Frith, K. T. (1997). Undressing the Ad: Reading Culture in Advertising. In K. T. Frith

(Ed.), Undressing the Ad: Reading Culture in Advertising (pp. 117). New York:
Peter Lang.

Hall, S. (1997). The Work of Representation. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural

Representations and Signifying Practices (pp. 1569). Thousand Oaks: Sage
Publications.

Hebdige, D. (1988). Object as Image: The Italian Motor Scooter Cyle. In Hiding in the
Light: On Images and Things (pp. 77115). New York: Routledge.

Kellner, D. M., & Durham, M. G. (2006). Adventures in Media and Cultural Studies:
Introducing the KeyWorks. In D. M. Kellner & M. G. Durham (Eds.), Media and
Cultural Studies: KeyWorks (Revised Ed, pp. ixxxxviii). Malden: Blackwell
Publishers.

Lears, T. J. J. (1983). From Salvation to Self-Realization: Advertising and the

Therapeutic Roots of the Consumer Culture, 1880-1930. In The Culture of
Consumption: Critical Essays in American History, 1880-1980 (pp. 138). New
York: Pantheon Books.

Lester, E. P. (1997). Finding the Path to Signification: Undressing a Nissan Pathfinder

Direct Mail Package. In K. T. Frith (Ed.), Undressing the Ad: Reading Culture in
Advertising (pp. 1934). New York: Peter Lang.

Miller, D. (2010). Why Clothing is Not Superficial. In Stuff (pp. 1241). Malden: Polity
Press.

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Taylor, B., & Tilford, D. (2000). Why Consumption Matters. In J. B. Schor & D. B. Holt
(Eds.), The Consumer Society Reader (pp. 463487). Newy York: W. W. Norton &
Company.

Turow, J. (2015). The Digital Transformationn of Physical Retailing: Sellers, Customers,

and the Ubiquitous Internet. In A. Bechmann & S. Lomborg (Eds.), The Ubiquitous
Internet: User and Industry Perspectives (pp. 146164). New York: Routledge.

Williamson, J. (1978). Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising.

London: Marion Boyars.