Advertising and Consumer Representations

The course provides an in-depth exploration of advertising as a component of the marketing-communication mix. The primary focus is on what marketers call the "branding" objectives of advertising and the associated best practices, though "performance" objectives, and the increasingly blurred line between the two, are also discussed. Students are introduced to the key issues, trends, processes, and frameworks that guide practitioners and shape contemporary advertising.

The role of traditional and digital media in advertising campaigns is examined, along with the specific dynamics of digital advertising: the part played by ad tech tools, platforms, and algorithms, the growing role of machine learning, generative AI, and AI agents in how campaigns are built and run, and the evolving aesthetics of advertising (for example, TikTok's impact on creative codes).

It closes by examining the place of advertising in the ecological and social transition, and the ethical choices this entails for marketers themselves: what to promote, how to make and substantiate environmental claims, and where to draw the line between persuasion and responsibility.

In presenza