Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Course Projects
Part IV: Advertising and Consumer Culture
1. Creating Prezi/PowerPoint Presentations: Students create research-based
presentations using either Prezi or PowerPoint around the suggested topics below. The
associated readings from the text are designed to get students started on the topic.
From there, they will need to gather more scholarly and popular press research to build
2. Deconstructing an Advertisement: In this article, students are to select and
analyze a print advertisement (from a magazine or newspaper) of their selection. The
3. Teaching Unit: This assignment asks students to prepare a teaching unit on media
literacy in relation to advertising/marketing that includes 12–15 claims/facts from the
class material. It builds on the “Identifying Claims/Facts” assignment from Part I.
Instruct students to create a teaching unit on media literacy in the context of advertising
to elementary, junior high, or high school students. The teaching unit should provide
illustrations/examples for each of the claims/facts and may contradict or support them.
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
4. Writing Non-Classist Advertisements: This is a project that can be spread over a
few weeks or several class sessions. After assigning the students the McAllister and
Aupperle article, break the class into three or four groups (or more depending on class
size). Assign the students a company/product from both middle-class brands (e.g., Arm
and Hammer Baking Soda, American Airlines) as well as higher-end brands (e.g., BMW
i3 electric car, Tumi Luggage) and ask them to write a 30-second spot that showcases
5. Infographics: This assignment calls for students to research the mission of the UN
vis-à-vis the UN Development Programme’s Goodwill Ambassadors available at
6. The Power of Disney’s Advertising: The Walt Disney Company is adept at creating
captivating, colorful advertising. Like in Jhally’s article, much of the appeal of advertising
lies in consumers longing for the social. Much of Disney’s advertising for their Walt
Disney World theme park (which opened in 1971) is available online. Assign students to
investigate Disney World advertising according to three eras: 1971–1985; 1985–2005;
and 2005 to present (the instructor can separate the class into groups for this project).
Ask students a variety of provocative questions to guide their research: How is Disney
exploiting the social to sell a commodity? What kinds of consumers is Disney trying to
lure? How is Disney tying together the concepts of wealth, race, entertainment, and