Università Roma Tre

In the first part of the Lab, different advertising techniques and strategies will be presented, showing how these change according to different media (drawing on many case studies, printed ads, TV commercials, web ads, etc. will be taken into consideration); a small sample of theoretical frameworks will be discussed and applied to specific advertisements; finally, the organization of the advertising industry will be illustrated, along with its main professional figures.
The second part of the Lab focuses on what is probably to be considered advertising’s main ‘resource’ and most longstanding weakness at the same time: the use of stereotypes. After addressing stereotypes in theoretical terms and explaining the reasons for their widespread use and ‘efficacy’, we will focus on three categories of stereotypes commonly found in advertisements: 1) gender and ‘heteronormativity’ (how are female and male subjects and bodies depicted in ads? What are the reasons for and the effects of privileging heterosexual couples?); 2) age (which products/services/goods is the use of elderly in advertising limited to? Are old women and old men ‘used’ in the same way?); 3) race (in which roles non-Caucasian people feature in in advertising images and discourse?). Several forms of communication, social and no-profit campaigns included, will be deconstructed and re-constructed in order to challenge common places and to analyze how (hetero)sexism, racism, and ageism work in advertising.
The Lab balances theory and practice. In both Part I and Part II, practical exercises will be proposed and students will be asked to analyze commercials or advertising campaigns and/or to develop their own.

Teaching material will be made available on the www.mediastudies.it website