| Course Type | Elective Course |
|---|
| Course Level | Bachelor's Degree |
|---|
| Year of Study | - |
|---|
| Semester | - |
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| ECTS | 4 |
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| Name of Lecturer(s) |
- |
| Learning Outcomes |
At the end of this course, the students;
- Critically analyze and interpret visual images, AI-generated visuals, and digital iconography used in advertising and digital media.
- Identify ideological burdens, algorithmic nudges, and digital surveillance mechanisms embedded within images, performing comprehensive critical analyses.
- Deconstruct visuals within the contexts of socio-cultural structures and digital culture using classical and digital semiotic frameworks.
- Gain insight into platform capitalism, the attention economy, and data-driven consumer culture, evaluating visuals from different eras through the lens of capitalism's digitalizing phases.
- Develop a critical stance toward ethical issues in advertising and digital platforms, including sexism, body image standards, stereotypes, and greenwashing.
- Formulate ethical, inclusive, and contemporary visual and digital strategies grounded in visual literacy and digital-age standards.
|
| Mode of Delivery | Face to face |
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| Prerequisites | No |
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| Recommended Optional Programme Components | GİT331-Reklam Tasarımı |
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| Course Description | Every day, we are bombarded with hundreds of advertising visuals, algorithm-driven social media feeds, and fascinating content generated by artificial intelligence. Yet, how effectively can we decode the hidden language lying behind these images?the psychological and ideological codes targeted directly at our subconscious?
On the other hand, do ads merely sell us products, or are lifestyle, desire, and identity bundled into the package as well?
Whether we realize it or not, we are the daily targets of thousands of advertising messages and visual persuasion strategies. Are you ready to deconstruct the underlying visual codes, text-image interplay, implicit ideologies, and persuasion mechanisms of advertising through the lens of an advertiser or designer?
In this course, we place the advertising world, ad campaigns, and advertising copy/visuals directly under the microscope. Beginning with consumer culture?the very raison d'etre of advertising?we step-by-step dismantle a broad spectrum ranging from classic print ads to social media influencer partnerships, and from algorithmic advertising to AI-generated ad imagery.
Using concrete analytical tools provided by semiotics, we evaluate brand constructions of subjectivity, modes of interpellation, linguistic strategies, gender representations (Femvertising), and sustainability claims (Greenwashing) through real-world advertising examples.
Throughout the semester, as you analyze a real ad campaign of your choice using professional methodologies, you will grasp the "unseen intelligence" behind ad design and gain the capability to produce ethical, effective, and impactful advertising content.
If you want to step into the strategic and visual kitchen of advertising and acquire an industry-defining analytical perspective, this course is tailored for you! |
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| Course Contents |
| WEEK |
TOPICS |
|
1st Week |
The Hidden Language and Persuasion Strategies of Advertising Images: Advertising literacy in the age of visual bombardment. Persuasion mechanisms of advertising, use value vs. exchange value, and the rhetoric of advertising language. |
|
2nd Week |
Included in the Package: Product, Lifestyle, and Identity Construction: Advertising's promises of lifestyle, desire, and identity within the context of consumer culture. Historical analysis of classic print ads (Part I). |
|
3rd Week |
Media Evolution: From Print Ads to Algorithmic and AI Advertising: The transition from mass communication to personalized advertising. Social media feeds, data-driven advertising, and AI-generated advertising visuals. Historical analysis (Part II). |
|
4th Week |
Subliminal Codes: Construction of Needs and Algorithmic Desire: "Need" in Marxist sociology, "desire" in Deleuze and Guattari. Implicit psychological codes in advertising, the production of desire, and impulsive consumption nudges on digital platforms. |
|
5th Week |
Baudrillard, Simulation, and AI-Generated Images: Consumer society, sign value, and simulacra. Hyperreality in advertising, AI outputs, and deepfake advertising strategies. |
|
6th Week |
Influencer Collaborations and Symbolic Consumption: Bourdieu and symbolic consumption. Digital lifestyle marketing on social media, the illusion of authenticity in influencer partnerships, and covert advertising. |
|
7th Week |
Gender Representations in Advertising and Femvertising: From Goffman's framing and body language analysis to contemporary Femvertising and Pinkwashing strategies. The evolution of gender stereotypes in advertising. |
|
8th Week |
MIDTERM EXAM |
|
9th Week |
Semiotics Analysis Toolkit: Signifier, signified, sign, denotation, and connotation. Deconstructing advertising visuals and digital persuasion codes through semiotic tools. Case study analyses. |
|
10th Week |
Brand Construction of Subjectivity and Modes of Interpellation: Becoming the subject of advertising and interpellation. Brands addressing the consumer directly ("you") and identity construction through products. Sample advertising analyses. |
|
11th Week |
Text-Image Interplay and Implicit Ideology in Advertising Design: Visual persuasion strategies in ad design, text-image interaction, and the ideology of color and composition. Examples of visual rhetoric. |
|
12th Week |
Referential Systems, Greenwashing, and Ethical Responsibility: Culture, nature, and history references in advertising. Sustainability narratives, greenwashing evaluations, and principles of ethical, impactful ad design. |
|
13th Week |
Applied Ad Campaign Analysis Presentations: Workshop where students present a critical and semiotic analysis of a chosen global or local advertising campaign using professional methodologies. |
|
14th Week |
FINAL EXAM |
|
| Recommended or Required Reading | Mandatory Reading List:
Reklamlarda Anlam ve İdeoloji, Judith Williamson, Ütopya Yayınları.
Recommended Reading List:
Reklam İmgelerini Okumak: Görsel Göstergebilim ve Söylem Analizi. Nihal Kocabay Şener. Eğitim Yayınevi.
İmgeler Nasıl Düşünür? Ron Burnett, Metis Yayıncılık.
Bilinçaltını Ayartmak, Robert Heath, The Kitap.
Görsel Metin Çözümlemeleri, Özlem Güllüoğlu, Ütopya Yayınları.
Reklam Nasıl Çözümlenir? Rengin Küçükerdoğan, Beta Yayınları.
Metin Çözümlemeleri, Yasemin İnceoğlu ve Nebahat Çomak, Ayrıntı Yayınları.
Reklamlarda Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Erving Goffman, Heretik Yayıncılık.
Platform Kapitalizmi. Nick Srnicek. Tellekt Yayınları.
|
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| Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods |
- Lecture
- Discussion
- Questions/Answers
- Presentation
|
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| Assessment Methods and Criteria |
|
Quantity |
Percentage (%) |
| Mid-term |
1 |
20 |
| Assignment |
1 |
20 |
| Attendance |
1 |
10 |
| Total(%) |
|
50 |
| Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%) |
|
50 |
| Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%) |
|
50 |
| Total(%) |
|
100 |
|
| ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload |
| Activities |
Quantity |
Duration (Hour) |
Total Workload (Hour) |
| Midterm exam |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Preparation for Quiz |
|
|
|
| Individual or group work |
14 |
2 |
28 |
| Preparation for Final exam |
1 |
20 |
20 |
| Course hours |
14 |
3 |
42 |
| Preparation for Midterm exam |
1 |
8 |
8 |
| Laboratory (including preparation) |
|
|
|
| Final exam |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Homework |
|
|
|
| Project |
1 |
18 |
18 |
| Total Work Load | 120 |
| Total Work Load / 30 (h) | 4 |
| ECTS Credit of the Course | 4 |
|
| Language of Instruction | Turkish |
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| Work Placement(s) | No |
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