Courses: Persuasion, Marketing, Advanced Public Speaking, Argumentation. Objectives: The aims of this assignment are to introduce students to the concept of data mining as a tool for audience analysis and to improve students' ability to adapt a message to a specific audience.

Impromptu speaking is a typical exercise in communication-focused courses. This format is often used to practice reducing or assess speaking anxiety, getting to know one another, and delivering project updates and ceremonial remarks. For students to practice their skills in quick thinking and speech preparation, instructors commonly have students…

Audience analysis is essential for creating successful messages across communication fields. The audience persona is an effective tool for understanding the characteristics and needs of a target audience. Through this unit activity, students experience the process of persona development, build skills in data collection and analysis, and gain…

This teaching case highlights the complex and unique strategic issues facing social media platform companies, using Facebook as the primary, motivating example. The case centers on the breach of trust that occurred when Cambridge Analytica acquired user data from 87 million Facebook accounts and then attempted to sway the 2016 U.S. Presidential…

Greenwashing is defined as "the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service" (UL Environment, 2013). As "green living" has become a marketable concept, and desirable consumers seek to enact a green identity, more companies are utilizing…

Courses: Strategic Campaigns, Advertising/Public Relations Campaigns. Objectives: The purpose of this semester-long project is student application of research-based strategic communication strategies and techniques used in executing a professional strategic communication campaign for a client.

How can teachers foster good reading in pupils aged 7-11? This book explains the way to do it. What is this book about? Reading comprehension is so much more than just reading words, and this book explains how to develop all aspects of it for pupils aged 7-11. Written by top experts in the field, it includes eleven in-depth case studies--taken…

Students in communication, and particularly in advertising, are encouraged to value creativity. However, even in programs that value creativity, it can be difficult to encourage creativity in the process of research that guides communication efforts. The project described in this paper--"Street Crossing"--is used in upper-division and…

What better way to interest students in mathematics than using a Super Bowl® commercial? A Prudential® insurance commercial aired during the Super Bowl in 2013 was the impetus for this lesson (see it here on You-Tube™: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=IsNiKGMSHUQ). In the commercial, four hundred people were polled on "How Old Is the Oldest…

The concept of gender stereotypes permeates the lives of youth in the United States. This article provides background information and rationale for incorporating gender stereotype analysis into family and consumer sciences (FCS) coursework. The critical analysis of gender stereotypes includes numerous activities and assessments that encourage…

Discusses the pedagogical benefits of advertising competitions, and describes five national competitions available to students, including Nissan Student Advertising Contest, Philip Morris Marketing Communications Competition for Students, Direct Marketing Collegiate Echo Competition, and American Advertising Federation National Student Advertising…

Offers several suggestions to high schools for organizing, coordinating, promoting, and selling their theater season. (JMF)

Indicates that to build a successful yearbook advertising program an adviser must instill enthusiasm and then find students willing to sell advertising. Provides eight guidelines for structuring an advertising sales program. (TJ)

Presents a critical thinking unit designed to teach students in grades 4-6 to identify propaganda techniques in advertising and to create and evaluate original advertisements. Objectives, directions, and a series of five activities are outlined. Various propaganda techniques are defined. (MES)

Focuses on a collaborative research assignment on the health claims made for dietary supplements to help students understand responsibility in advertising. Helps students explore the social, economic, and political contexts in which regulatory standards emerge and evolve as well as how they are disseminated, implemented, and enforced. (SC)