Key Assignment Draft

You will be attending an upcoming psychological conference on psychology and mass media. While packing for the conference, you are struck by a particular advertisement you see on television. You have seen this same product advertised in magazines, on the radio, on billboards, and on the Internet. This commercial has you thinking more about the interplay between psychology and mass media. You decide to analyze the advertising campaign and use it as an example during the conference. This analysis will form the Key Assignment for this course.

Using a psychosocial perspective and media research, you will analyze a product campaign to fully demonstrate your understanding of the effects and impacts of propaganda, social influence, persuasion, and attitude changes on society. You will also examine how your own behaviors are influenced by popular media and mass communication.

Select a company that is currently promoting one of its products and has an extensive advertising campaign running at this time.

Part 1 Tasks (From topics Weeks 1-4):

Write paper (12-15 pgs) that analyzes a product's advertising campaign. The analysis of the product's advertising campaign (the Key Assignment final paper) will include the following sections: 

• A brief (1-2 pgs) description of the product and the advertising campaign under analysis, including the types of mass media used
• Media effects research and sociopsychological theories that are applicable to the campaign (Week 1 topics)
• A discussion of the mass media impacts (Week 2 topics)
• The use of sex and violence in the campaign (Week 3 topics)
• A discussion of emotions, persuasion, and stereotypes as they relate to the product's advertising campaign (Week 4 topics)