Media, Advertising & Consumerism
 What was the world like before
advertising? Few alive today can answer that
question.
Media messages push us to buy things, but we’re
already over-consuming the finite resources of this planet. And,
corporations have mastered public relations spin so that much of
what passes for news programming is actually “under-the-radar”
advertising disguised as credible, unbiased reporting. Learning
how to spot and deconstruct advertising and p.r. is one of the most
important aspects of media literacy education, especially for young
people.
Check out these organizations, online resources, business/trade links, and speakers on these subjects.
Organizations (Educational, non-profit, etc. related to media literacy)
Adbusters Media Foundation
Based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, "we are a global network
of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators
and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement
of the information age." Check out their Spoof Ad Gallery. Adbusters publishes Adbusters
magazine and has an advocacy advertising agency. Signup for their
email action alert.
Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood is a "national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and concerned parents who counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration."
Center for Media
& Democracy An outstanding organization serving social change
activists, journalists, researchers, policymakers and the public.
Sponsors these projects and much more:
- PR Watch, which investigates and exposes how the public relations
industry and other professional propagandists manipulate public
information, perceptions and opinion on behalf of governments
and special interests. Sign up for the weekly “spin”
alert.
- Spin of the Day, which offers web-based daily reporting on public
relations, propaganda and media spin.
- SourceWatch, an Internet-based "open content" encyclopedia
of people, groups and issues shaping the public agenda.
Center
for Media Literacy CML’s Reading Room has excellent
articles on issues related to advertising, public relations
spin and more. Also, utilizing its MediaLit Kit framework, the Center for Media Literacy "provides
curricula, professional development, implementation and research to prepare educators, parents and children with the media literacy skills necessary to be enlightened, engaged citizens of a global media culture."
Center for Science in the Public Interest has the Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV, which seeks to reduce the amount of alcoholic-beverage advertising to underage children and young adults, who tune into televised sports for fun. CSPI's website has many links to research and articles about both alcohol and food advertising, including how children are targeted by junk food companies in schools, stores, home and through the media.
Commercial Alert Founded
by Ralph Nader and Gary Ruskin, Commercial Alert's mission is "to
keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent
it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of
family, community, environmental integrity and democracy."
This group does a great job shining the spotlight on egregious corporate
attempts to market to children and to commercialize our schools
and other public institutions. Be sure to click on the hard-to-tell-they're-links: Culture, Education, Government, and Health. Sign
up for their email alerts.
Media Channel. Offers
excellent Issue Guides on Marketing to Kids, PR Unspun, Christmas Consumption and much
more.
Media
Education Foundation. Outstanding videos and DVDs, primarily
for older teens, college students and adults. Titles include Advertising and the End of the World, Constructing Public Opinion, Mickey Mouse Monoply, No Logo, The Overspent American and Toxic Sludge is Good for You.
New
Mexico Media Literacy Project. Resources, workshops, conferences
and training, with a strong focus on advertising. Teaching materials include CD-roms packed with examples of advertising
for use in classroom learning.
Online Resources
Media Literacy Clearinghouse.
Lots of good material here, with links off the home page (yellow
navigation bar on the left) to Advertising, Alcohol Advertising,
Celebrities In Ads, Commercialism, Counter Advertising, Credit Card
Ads, Drug Ads, Political Advertising, Product Placement, Sports
& Advertising, and Tobacco Advertising.
Stay Free! A print magazine, a blog and other great resources on mass media and consumer culture from Carrie McClaren. Free curriculum materials for high school and college level.
Business/Trade Links
Advertising Research Foundation. This group's Member page (scroll down) has a list of most of the the major U.S. professional and trade associations related to the field of advertising. The ARF website gives good insight into how the industry perceives human beings as laboratory subjects to be examined for how they react to advertising.
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