Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
This course examines various media theories and their application to social change strategies as practiced by groups around the world. Course content will also cover some of the ethical dilemmas that arise when government agencies engage in issues advocacy and when commercial marketing and media techniques are applied to complex issues of social and public policy. It pulls together a range of questions of central importance for public relations scholarship and explores systematically the role of nationalism, race, ethnicity, gender, feminism, and environmentalism in this form of activism and public relations in the context of converged media and usefully blends a range of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives.
The notion of cancel culture is a variant on the term call-out culture. It is often said to take the form of boycotting or shunning an individual (often a celebrity) who is deemed to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner. Some critics argue that cancel culture has a chilling effect on public discourse, is unproductive, does not bring real social change, causes intolerance, and amounts to cyberbullying. Exploring the complexities embedded in contemporary political activism, this course falls into the track of public relations and social activism, attempting to analyze the workings of power and resistance as well as citizenship and subjectivity in the neoliberal era. Refusing to simply position politics in opposition to consumerism, this course teases out the relationships between material cultures and political subjectivities, arguing that activism may itself be transforming into a branded commodity.
Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass communication channels for the purpose of influencing public policy. It is a means to an end – policy change – and not the goal in itself. Media advocacy targets the broad, social environment to promote systemic change, rather than focusing on individual, human behaviors that occur further downstream in the change process. Technological innovation (e.g. livestreaming services, AR, VR etc.) are forcing structural changes in mass media that encourage the rise of more specialized community, ethnic and online media outlets. At the same time, the theoretical space in which people debate and exchange ideas, termed the ‘public sphere’ by Jurgen Habermas, has become global, expanding to include many more voices (albeit elites) in dialogues that transcend national boundaries. These changes open up new lines of thinking and new influence opportunities for activists.
能力項目說明
Schedule design (will be subject to changes due to number of students and visits)
1st week
Consumer Activism: An Introduction
The End of Consumerism as We Know It?
Promotional Cultures and Resistance: Activism against and through Consumerism and Advertising
Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age Chapter 1-2
2nd week:
Can Individuals Save the Planet or Ourselves? Approaches to Consumer Activism
Case 1, 2 Responses to chapter 2
3rd week:
Nationalism, Race, Ethnicity, and Consumer Activism
Case 3, 4 Responses to chapter 3
4th week:
Gender, Feminism and Consumer Activism
Case 5, 6 Responses to Chapter 4
5th week (3/16):
Consumer Activism in the Environment
Introduction: Can We Consume Ourselves out of the Climate Crisis?
Case 7, 8 Responses to Chapter 5
6th week (3/23):
Celebrity Advocacy and Consumer Activism
Banet-Weiser, Sarah (2012) Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times.
Chpater 1,2
7th week (3/30):
Banet-Weiser, Sarah (2012) Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times.
Chapter 3, 4,5, 6
8th week (4/6):
Mid-term proposal
9th week (4/13):
Mid-term proposal
10th week (4/20):
Ng, Eve (2022). Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis.
Chapter 1, 2
Asian celebrity cases
11th week (4/27):
Ng, Eve (2022). Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis.
Chpater 3, 4
Asian celebrity cases
12th week (5/4):
Guest speaker
13th week (5/11):
Ng, Eve (2022). Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis.
Chpater 5,6
Asian celebrity Case
14th week (5/18):
Final Presentation
15th week (5/25):
Final Presentation
16th week:
Final project Discussion
17th week:
Final presentation
18th week:
Students are expected to complete the assigned readings on schedule, attend class and offer original contributions to class discussions. Please register only if you are prepared to participate fully.
Grading Formula
Two reading article discussion lead and presentations: 40% of final grade
Class participation: 30% of final grade
Final project proposal:30% of final grade
1. Celebrity commodity activism culture studies and presentation
Based on the various studies available from the assigned book (Cancel culture and commodity activism), this presentation will enable us to broaden the conventional spectrum of studies on consumption by including this particular consumption, namely consumption of celebrity, through its material manifestations (photographs, films, newspapers, television, etc.) and immaterial manifestation (presence). By interfacing these two problematics—consumption and celebrity—, we can, on the one hand, examine celebrity from a different angle, looking at the market behavior to which it has given rise and demonstrating that it has lead to a specific economy involving the media, press, advertising, entertainment, security, etc. On the other hand, we can portray consumption as consumption of celebrity, by focusing on the specifics of the modes of consumption practiced by those involved, which have broadened the limits of the market economy.
2. Corporate Social Cause Related Marketing Case
Green washing, purple washing and now rainbow washing …so on and so forth….do corporations tackle the cause related marketing sincerely? Please find a case and put yourself in a position either working for a corporate (or alternatively being critical about any mission carried out by any brand). Please bring it up in this class. I am looking forward to hearing your case.
3.Final Action Project (midterm proposal discussion)
This is an action project, not a research paper. Each student must demonstrate
her practical understanding of media advocacy strategies and techniques through a hands-on project involving the creation of a media product or the execution of a media advocacy idea. Suggestions for final projects may be found at the end of this syllabus.
Ng, Eve (2022). Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan
Eleftheria J. Lekakis, Clare I.kson (2022). Consumer Activism: Promotional Culture and Resistance SAGE Publications
Banet-Weiser, Sarah (2012) Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times. New York City: NYU Press,
These resources are available through the NCCU wireless connection: The celebritization of society and culture: Understanding the structural dynamics of celebrity culture https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367877912459140 Journal of celebrity studies https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcel20/current Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-new-analytics-of-culture Wall Street Journal (Market Review) https://www.wsj.com/ The Role of Culture in Sports Sponsorship: An Update https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1536&context=wcob_fac