Advertising

Choose one of the following topics

1. Does advertising today sell values and lifestyles more than products and services? Or does it serve to convey information and knowledge about those products and services to consumers? Provide examples or focus on one or more ad/marketing campaigns to support your argument.

2. Are retailers today successful in compelling consumers to spend their money (either online or in brick-and-mortar locations)? Or have consumers become smart and savvy enough to see through their techniques? Provide examples or focus on one or more retailers, malls, and/or websites to support your argument.

3. Has the relationship between media and advertising fundamentally changed today with the emergence of new business models and economic pressures? Or is advertising as important as ever to the survival and success of media? Provide examples or focus on one or more media industry to support your argument.

Length requirements: 1500-2000 words (including the title and bibliography/works cited pages). For every 100 words under or over the word count, papers will be penalized 2%, e.g., a 1250-word paper will incur a 4% penalty, while a 2125-word paper will be levied a 2% penalty.

Formatting requirements: Double-spaced, 12-point font, Times New Roman/Arial/Cambria. Citations should be formatted in APA citation style, with a bibliography or works cited section at the end of their submission

Research requirements: Students must cite or refer to at least four (4) academic sources, of which no more than two (2) can be from the course assigned readings. (Course assigned readings do not have to be used; all academic sources can be from outside of the course.) An academic source can include an article from a peer-reviewed journal, a chapter from a text published by a university or scholarly press, etc.

Papers will be evaluated according to the following criteria (in order of importance):

· persuasiveness and rigour in arguing for a particular position or perspective in relation to the chosen question or theme from the course, as illustrated through references to contemporary examples, issues, and debates related to that question or theme;

· relevance, use, and explication of academic sources, that is, how judiciously they choose and faithfully they reconstruct the scholarly literature on the chosen theme from the course, demonstrating that they have undertaken a studied engagement of the course material and/or external scholarship through quotes, paraphrases, etc.;

· quality of writing, as reflected both in the attention to proofreading, editing, citations, etc., to limit typographical, grammatical, and other errors, and in the observance of the assignment’s formal and technical requirements, e.g., citation style, spacing and margins, etc.