408B W20 Forrester

ENGL 408B - The Discourse of Advertising

Instructor: Dr. Clive Forrester

Term: Winter 2020

Class times: Mon. & Wed. 1:00pm-2:20pm

Classroom: ML 349

Office hours: Room HH141, Mon & Wed. 2:30pm-3:30pm (or by appointment)

Email: clive.forrester@uwaterloo.ca ext: 37905

Course Description

This course examines the linguistic and rhetorical tools involved in the language of advertising. Participants are introduced to a brief history of the discourse of advertising and how the rhetoric in that communicative genre has evolved across space and time (focusing primarily on the mid 20th century to the present). Additionally, the course utilizes various analytical methods grounded in rhetorical theory and applied linguistics in exploring the principles of advertising language. Finally, participants are engaged in the dissection and creation of original advertising copy.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this course participants should be able to:

1. Understand the complex relationship between language, society and advertising
2. Explain how advertising rhetoric is adapted to and influenced by time, ethnicity, gender and other aspects of culture
3. Critically analyze peer reviewed publications on advertising discourse
4. Conceptualize and design original advertising copy
5. Compile a professional portfolio of original material

Assessment Breakdown: [Additional instructions are located on LEARN]

1. Class Exercises (15%): Each week an in-class exercise will be posted related to the topic or reading for that week. These are short exercises which are graded cumulatively; the final mark is dependent on how many you completed, how accurately it was done, and whether it was turned in on time.
2. Workshop [leading] (30%): Each class participant is placed in a group of 3 and at the designated time on the syllabus, will lead a workshop in their groups.
3. Workshop attendance (25% - 5% x 5): You will earn 5% for attendance and participation at each workshop.
4. Major Portfolio: (30%): Each participant will compile a portfolio of originally created ad copy in each of the 4 areas explored throughout the course.

Readings:

To make the most of this course, it is important to read ALL the assigned readings each week, as well as the readings assigned for the workshops. To facilitate this, all the readings are added to LEARN. You heard that correctly - you won’t have to buy a single book. A provisional reading list for the course is attached below:

Bitzer, Lloyd. 1968. The Rhetorical Situation. Philosophy and Rhetoric 1. 1–14.

Holtz-Bacha, Christina & Lynda Lee Kaid. 2006. Political Advertising in International Comparison. In Lynda Lee Kaid & Christina Holtz-Bacha (eds.), The Sage Handbook of Political Advertising, 3–14. California, USA: Sage Publications.

Jenkins, Eric S. 2014. The Modes of Visual Rhetoric: Circulating Memes as Expressions. Quarterly Journal of Speech 100(4). 442–466. doi:10.1080/00335630.2014.989258 (2 November, 2019).

Johnston, Ann. 2006. Methodologies for the Study of Political Advertising. In Lynda Lee Kaid & Christina Holtz-Bach (eds.), The Sage Handbook of Political Advertising, 15–34. California, USA: Sage Publications.

Mcquarrie, Edward F. 2010. Go figure : new directions in advertising rhetoric. Reference Press.

O’Barr, William M. 2011. Sex and Advertising. Advertising & Society Review 12(2). doi:10.1353/asr.2011.0019 (9 April, 2019).

Paula Pérez Sobrino. 2017. Multimodal metaphor and metonymy in advertising. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Talbot, Mary. 2014. Language, Gender, and Popular Culture. In Susan Ehrlich, Miriam Myerhoff & Janet Holmes (eds.), The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality, 604–624. UK: Wiley Blackwell.

Thomas, Kevin D. & Naya Jones. 2019. Critical Reflexivity: Teaching About Race and Racism in the Advertising Classroom. Advertising & Society Quarterly 20(2). doi:10.1353/asr.2019.0013 (14 August, 2019).

Timke, Edward. 2017. Social Media and Advertising. Advertising & Society Quarterly 18(2). doi:10.1353/asr.2017.0019 (2 April, 2019).

Tungate, Mark. 2013. Adland : A Global History of Advertising. London: Kogan Page.

*Vyvian Raoul & Matt Bonner. 2019. Advertising shits in your head : strategies for resistance. Oakland: Pm Press.

*This reading is not on LEARN, Kindle edition costs $9.99

Keeping in Touch With Me

Feel free to stop by during office hours and have a chat about your work. If for some reason you can’t come to the scheduled office hours, we can make an appointment to meet virtually via Skype or Facetime. Most importantly, do not wait until you feel completely overwhelmed to seek help. Let’s start talking as early as possible.