Rationale

The course provides an understanding of the contemporary promotional culture by exploring a number of theoretical ideas and debates and bringing together knowledge on media history, communication theory, advertising and branding. The students will engage themselves with a number of promotional media texts and practices and will address the ways promotional culture has been developed and shaped. The course also focusses on advertising and its relation to the field of public relations, with an emphasis on audience perception and reaction towards the advertising messages.  In this way, the students will further enhance their knowledge by examining concepts such as: media consumption, the capitalist market, political economy, celebrity culture, symbolic power and self-branding.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students will be expected to:
(i)    Define promotional culture and its current role within the modern society.
(ii)   List examples of promotional media tools and practices.
(iii)  Explain how promotional media has changed over the years.
(iv)  Interpret audience response and reaction to a range of promotional materials as transmitted via the different media.
(v)   Apply media and communications theory to the analysis of promotional culture.
(vi)  Explain key theories and concepts within the field.
(vii) Examine advertising material and evaluate its effectiveness in transmitting a message and making a call-to-action impact.
(viii) Discuss current key issues and debates that shape our everyday relationship with advertising and promotional culture.