Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC) wishes to engage international scholars in a critical debate about the relationship between communication, culture and society in the 21st century.
WPCC is a peer-reviewed journal, published online. The interdisciplinary nature of the field of Media and Cultural Studies is reflected in the diverse methods, contexts and themes of the papers published. Areas of interest include – but are not limited to – the history and political economy of the media, popular culture, media users and producers, political communication and developments arising from digital technologies in the context of an increasingly globalized and networked world.
Contributions from both established scholars and those at the beginning of their academic career are equally welcome.
ISSUE EDITOR: CARL W. JONES Senior Lecturer in PR and Advertising at the School of Media and Communication, University of Westminster
Advertising, and public relations have a potential for motivating progressive behaviours in the public via the mass media. From Edward Bernays 1929 effort to promote women’s aspirations via a campaign to smoke, by branding cigarettes as feminist ‘Torches of Freedom’, (Bernays, 2004) to the global brand P&G creating a TV commercial to publicise the discussion of ‘toxic masculinity’ (Gillette, 2019), branded commodities have been inspiring changes in human behaviours to resonate with consumers. This method is not limited to brands that rely on the neoliberal capitalist system. In 2011 the Colombian Ministry of Defence used ‘ambient marketing’ to convince the so-called terrorist organisation FARC to lay down their weapons and come home for Christmas (Ministry of Defense, 2011). But who decides what changes will benefit which segment of society?
Brands have been appropriating the practice of advertising to create change, with the objective to generate more sales, and deliver profits to their shareholders. Recently having a social conscience is becoming increasingly important – especially with a millennial audience who care more than ever whether a brand’s values align with their own. In nation states run by other ideologies such as communism, advertising is used by governments to educate publics, such as China’s one baby per family policy. This policy has recently changed, and the government has to re-educate over 1 billion people, to increase the falling birth rate. Can a government sponsored integrated campaign inspire a switch in thinking? Instances might include health campaigns, AIDs, drink driving and wearing seatbelts.
This special issue invites the most recent theoretical interventions and empirical research that explores how advertising has the potential for motivating progressive behaviours in the public via the mass media.
We define advertising as a designed communication that reinterprets signs and symbols in order to persuade while ‘the mass media’ includes a broad range of communication platforms, from paid and earned; analogue to digital networks; and guerrilla activations, to name a few.
We welcome papers on the subject of (but not limited to):
- Corporate social responsibility
- Consumer behaviour
- Integrated campaigns and the convergence of Advertising and PR
- Advertising reflects society or influences society?
- Models of brand communication
- Post truth and advertising
- Political Economy of advertising
- Ethics in Advertising
- Ideology and advertising
- Role of artificial neural networks, machine learning and AI
- Corporate social responsibility
- Advertising, activism and NGO’s in behaviour change
- Can Graphic Design save lives?
- The Role of Neuroscience
- PR vs. advertising. Which is more effective in promoting behavioural change?
- Environment-related advertising
- Can political advertising be applied for the human good?
ABSTRACTS DEADLINE
Please submit a 150-250 word abstract with keywords to WPCC’s submission system with 6 keywords by Monday 3rd February 2020 by registering at https://www.westminsterpapers.org/register/ then submitting from https://www.westminsterpapers.org/author/login/
You will receive feedback regarding encouragement to submit a paper or feedback from editors/WPCC around the 12th February 2020
DEADLINE FOR FULL PAPERS
Full papers are expected by 31 March 2020 submitted to the WPCC system. All papers will go through double peer-review.
Publication date: June-July 2020
WPCC is an open access journal and there are no fees for contributors. Published by the University of Westminster Press in conjunction with CAMRI. All content in this issue and in its archive is available free to read.
REFERENCES
Bernays, Edward L. (2004) Propaganda/Edward Bernays; with an introduction by Mark Crispin Miller. Brooklyn, NY: Ig Publishing.
Gillette (2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYaY2Kb_PKI&feature=emb_logo (last accessed 10 Jan 2020)
Ministry of Defense. (2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNaZ0w7eEA (last accessed 10 Jan 2020)
Posted on 20 Jan 2020
WPCC’S issue on Media Activism has been published.
Editors Anastasia Denisova and Michaela O’Brien highlight some key issues for the field in their editorial ‘From High Visibility to High Vulnerability: Feminist, Postcolonial and Anti-Gentrification Activism at Risk’.
Contributions reflect on the progressive and problematic aspects of social media activism with opportunities being countered by resistance and the cooption and control of new media channels by repressive governments and reactionary groups.
Materials in the issue take a look at activism in Brazil, Liverpool (UK), Mexico and Zimbabwe with Twitter, Facebook, community radio, newspapers, arts-based activism and Whats App all under scrutiny. A focus on ethical issues for researchers working with WhatsApp groups is highlighted in an article by Sergio Barbosa and Stefania Milan and work on the Las Morras feminist collective in Mexico City highlight the dangers and risks activists face in a hostile contemporary environment.
Posted on 12 Sep 2019
Posted on 05 Jul 2019
17 Mar 2020
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