Tag Archives: Ideology

I’ve found Judith Williamson’s Decoding Advertisements incredibly useful for introducing students to semiotics, ideology and subjectivity, as well as the critical study of advertising. I usually use Chapters One and Two. Students find the reading to be challenging, but I help them out a bit with this handout, which is my breakdown of her key points about advertising, subjects, and ideology. You’ll also find my guidelines for student presentations: I ask students to use Williamson to conduct their own critical analysis of an advertisement which they present to the class. Continue reading →