The concept of relevance is an obvious component in the success of classroom science investigations, but it is also one of the tenets behind the numerous media advertisements that bombard our senses on a daily basis. The authors decided to capitalize on the similarities between process-based science and the world of advertising by initiating…

This article details an activity intended for use in a course with a unit on effective listening, including listening courses, public speaking, and interpersonal communication. Students will explain the importance of effective and active listening for a target audience by producing an infomercial for a product or service which they design.

This chapter focuses on how popular culture can be incorporated into adult classrooms to critically examine the ways in which race, class, and gender identities are constructed in the mass media.

Discusses, in general terms, how to survive in a hostile environment, how to work out a life for yourself when you're living in a highly urbanized, technological age in an institutionally-dominated society and culture. (TO)

Indicates that (1) both younger (four-five years) and older (seven-eight years) children were significantly less likely to discriminate commercial from program content when the host-selling format was viewed, and (2) older children are more favorably influenced by the same commercial content when it is seen in a host-selling presentation than in a…

The authors examine all the possibilities for a media study. (MR)

Empirically analyzed the informational and symbolic content of 150 over-the-counter drug commercials on television. Results suggest that these ads tend to focus on what the drug will do for the consumer, rather than on the reasons why the drug should be ingested. Educational commitment seemed absent in promotional efforts. (RJM)

Educators have done far too little to prepare students to protect themselves from the persuasions of advertisers and politicians. (JH)

Attempts to assess any significant change in the degree of sex-role stereotyping in television commercials in recent years. (MH)

Classic propaganda techniques (repetition, testimonials, transfers of one quality to another, and painstaking imagery) work best in "closed" environments--exactly the situation advertisers have in Channel-One classrooms. Private, vulnerable, and sacred, the human psyche is not a commodity to be sold. Yet, such commerce will continue…

The article states that television has become a potent influence on learning because it suggests, through commercials and programs, that problems can be resolved instantly, and thus shapes viewers' perceptions of reality. (CD)

Examines Ford and Carter's 1976 primary and general election television spot commercials and offers analytic and evaluative observations. (MH)

In this document, broadcast regulatory issues since 1940 are outlined and discussed in relation to social forces. The 1940s saw open warfare between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and broadcasters, as a result of the FCC expanding its powers. In 1946, the FCC issued its "Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees,"…