It
is more than 100 years now that Advertising as a subject got introduced in
education system. There have been two approaches to advertising learning- one
from marketing perspective and the other in journalism schools. In both the
cases it is looked at as a part of a larger system wherein advertising as a
field has the capability of being studied as a separate stream. The
academicians need to understand these differences in approaches of advertising
education as neither of the approaches offer best platform for the
teaching-learning process of advertising.
Can
advertising sell? Well, the answer is-No. The ultimate objective of all the marketing
programs is sales. Advertising is a small yet important aspect of the marketing
mix. It supports the sales process but cannot sell on its own. Advertising primarily influences and persuades
target audience. My argument here is influence or persuasion studies fall into
communication studies and therefore advertising education should be given more
importance as compared to what it is given now with vigilant exclusion of sales
from advertising studies.
Advertising
education, as with most other types of professional education, has had its ups
and downs in the 100 years it has been a part of curricula. Also, during this
period diverse academic interests have created diffused patterns of curricula
and emphasis. It is difficult to obtain a clear picture of the extent and scope
of advertising education in India. Following issues can be observed in
advertising education:
·
Which academic divisions teach
advertising courses?
·
And, what courses are included in
various advertising curricula?
·
What do various educational institutions
call these programs?
·
What advertising courses are taught by
the institutions with advertising programs?
·
What institutions offer advertising
courses on the graduate level? How extensive are these programs?
·
In what way do advertising practitioners
and organizations cooperate?
·
How many and what are the backgrounds of
the faculty members who teach advertising courses?
·
Too many advertising students are
enrolled in various advertising programs? How many of them are oriented towards
learning advertising and taking it up as a career?
What
is the level expected by the industry? Are they fulfilling the criteria? Are
there enough job opportunities for these graduates?
·
Should advertising education be
accredited by its own peers?
·
What do advertising educators think
about the future of advertising education?
Most
of these journalism or business programs have small components in advertising.
In some cases it is clubbed with public relations wherein both Advertising and
PR have the capability of being studied separately and independently. Some of
the programs do offer a specialized degree in advertising but even these
programs have various small components like media planning, event management, public
relations, integrated marketing communication etc. These subjects are also
important but in order to accommodate everything these courses fail to
understand the core of the degree and deviate from advertising as a subject.
....to be continued.
