Now that the hype from the Super Bowl ads has died down, it’s time to take a more academic look at advertising. Marshall McLuhan once said that “advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century.” And it isn’t only of interest to business professionals (or football fans): It’s also studied closely by sociologists, historians, psychologists, and anthropologists, who use it to delve into our psyches.
If you ever want or need to study this subject from any angle—from the nostalgic to the scholarly—the Sheridan Libraries have a ton of resources to draw on. Do you want to:
Study advertising and media trends?
- Want to know the impact of those Super Bowl commercials? Check out the “Super Bowl” tab on Advertising Age
- Where can I find articles on what business scholars are saying about Super Bowl advertising? Business Research Guide Core Resources will do the job. Try a sample search in the ABI/Inform Complete database on “advertising AND Super Bowl,” limited to the U.S., published from 2015-2020.
Browse through or look at past advertising campaigns of major companies?
- Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns is just the thing. Read, for example, how Harley-Davidson recaptured the loyalty of its core customer base while battling a wave of Japanese-made clones luring away potential new buyers.
- Ad*Access is both entertaining and informative for those interested in advertising history. Go back to 1911-1955 in this Duke University sponsored database and see how cosmetics companies presented themselves in the 1930s or how televisions were marketed in their early days.
And for a Madison-Avenue-style dessert, lose yourself for an hour in the Smithsonian Institution’s online “Advertising, Marketing, and Commercial Imagery Collections.”