Challenges in contemporary advertising: sustainability, global-local relations and platformization
People
Course director
Description
The course introduces the recent debates on the challenges of contemporary advertising. *First, the environmental impact of different advertising models is covered in terms of the carbon footprint of digital advertising (automated auction, centralized real-time bidding, decentralized header bidding). It also presents the business and academic debates on the carbon footprint of data centers (data storage) as the backbone of a data-driven marketplace, along with possible solutions. *Second, the course introduces students to the impact of the platformization on advertising, focusing on the aspects of the centralization of online advertising services and its challenges to the cultural intermediary role of advertising agencies. This part of the course also addresses current challenges to a sustainable workforce in the advertising sector, such as the impact of creative optimization tools, the need for upskilling, reskilling, and the current problems of "quiet quitting" and "great resignation”. *Third, the practical results and theoretical implications of these challenges in the global-local context are presented. The course will cover the tension between digital technology and human knowledge in local contexts (e.g., the marketing tools of platforms such as Google and Facebook make it easier to localize a campaign, re-configuring the role of advertisers who authentically know the culture) and the extent to which local digital infrastructures enable/constrain digital campaigns.
Objectives
The course enables students
- to become familiar with the key debates around advertising, sustainability and platformization
- to understand the challenges facing contemporary advertising
- to identify the consequences of different advertising models for a sustainable society
- to critically evaluate these challenges and brainstorm about future solutions
- as future advertising professionals, to understand their role and responsibilities in the practice of different forms of advertising
Teaching mode
In presence
Learning methods
- Lectures
- Guided reading (with study questions)
- Debates among students
- Group project
Examination information
- 10% class participation
- 30% group project and presentation (in English)
- 60% written final exam (in English)
6 is the threshold for passing the course.
Bibliography
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Batmunkh, Altanshagai. "Carbon Footprint of The Most Popular Social Media Platforms" Sustainability, 14, 4 (2022): 2195.
10.3390/su14042195 - Ger, Güliz, Kravets, Olga, Sandikci, Özlem. "International marketing at the interface of the alluring global and the comforting local." Marketing Management: A Cultural Perspective, Ed. by Lisa Peñaloza, Nil Toulouse and Luca M. Visconti, Routledge: 30-42.
- MacKenzie, D. (2023). Short cuts: A puff of carbon dioxide. London Review of Books, 45(2).
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MacKenzie, Donald, Caliskan, Koray, Rommerskirchen, Charlotte. "The longest second: Header bidding and the material politics of online advertising" Economy and Society, 52, 3 (2023): 554-578.
10.1080/03085147.2023.2238463 -
Nieborg, David B, Poell, Thomas. "The platformization of cultural production: Theorizing the contingent cultural commodity" New Media & Society, 20, 11 (2018): 4275-4292.
10.1177/1461444818769694
- Malefyt, Timothy de Waal, Moeran, Brian. Advertising Cultures (selected parts). Berg, 2003.
- Mazzarella, William. Shoveling Smoke: Advertising and Globalization in Contemporary India (selected parts). Duke University Press, 2003.
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Poell, Thomas. "Three Challenges for Media Studies in the Age of Platforms" Television & New Media, 21, 6 (2020): 650-657.
10.1177/1527476420918833 - Rise of fast-fashion Shein, Temu roils global air cargo industry (Reuters)
Education
- Bachelor in Communication, Lecture, Elective course, Elective, 3rd year
