Course summary

Advertising and marketing have become increasingly central to social life on a global scale. As ‘persuasion industries’ they generate powerful images of the good life, acting upon individual and collective desires and aspirations. The MA critically explores the commercial and sociological aspects of the advertising and marketing industries, probing the way they link cultural values to creative and commercial innovation. Taught within our top rated Department of Sociology, this course investigates key theoretical and substantive debates in the critical study of advertising, marketing and media, and analyse the advertising industries in Britain, North America and newly emerging economies like India. You explore topics including:

• Recent developments from actor network theory on market devices

• Concepts of advertising, marketing and consumption

• Contemporary marketing and management

• Media and communications

• Developing brand cultures

• You are introduced to primary research materials, like market research data, examining debates about the historical rise of marketing-orientated businesses and the growth of the advertising agency.