Q Advertising: Beginning our Inquiry In preparation for the reading and writing you'll be doing about advertising in Unit Two, we are going to explore our existing opinions about advertising. • *Note: This is a useful learning strategy in general. Whenever you're about to engage in a particular area of inquiry, especially in an academic context, it's good to first think about the topic, to surface your prior knowledge about the topic you're about to investigate. Doing so makes it much easier to engage with readings and discussions about the topic. In this activity, you'll also begin to develop the position you'll argue in your Midterm Exam essay by engaging with the viewpoints of your classmates. Before you begin this activity, you should pin down your understanding of what advertising actually is. Give some thought to these questions: • What defines advertising exactly? What exactly separates it from other types of media, like movies or magazine articles? (A good starting point: Advertisers typically pay for access to their audience, and ads are designed fundamentally to persuade their audience--usually to buy a product or service, but also to support a political candidate, do something in the interest of public health, etc.) • Where do we encounter advertising? (Consider the ads we encounter on screens, but also those we see in public spaces, through branded products and clothing, etc.) Your Task STEP ONE: Make your first post (15 points, 150-200 words). In your first post, answer the following questions: • What are the benefits of advertising for individuals, communities, economies, businesses, cultures, etc.? (Alternatively, try to imagine what sort of harm or inconvenience might be caused if advertising were to disappear from society.) • What are the harmful effects of advertising for individuals, communities, economies, businesses, cultures, etc.? (Alternatively, try to imagine how life might be better if advertising were entirely removed from our daily lives.) STEP TWO: Respond to someone else's post (10 points, 75-100 words). Identify a post you find interesting and respond to it. You could agree with what the person has to say, and explain why. You could disagree and explain. Or, you could pick up where they leave off, adding to what they have to say. Follow-up Activity: Developing Ideas for the Midterm You don't need to turn in anything related to this follow-up to the required discussion activity. • Reflect on the effects described by the class. • Do you think the harm caused by advertising outweighs the benefits, the benefits outweigh the harm, or that advertising’s effects are ultimately balanced between good and bad? • Draft a short response in your notes to the question below. Keep your response in your notes and label it “IDEAS FOR THE MIDTERM” • Do you, at this stage, feel that advertising is mostly beneficial or damaging—or some combination of both? Why? *NOTE: You can also develop a position about a particular type of advertising (i.e., public health, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, etc.)