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MDS-20070 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Business, Law, Humanities & Social Sciences

For academic year: 2026/27 Last Updated: 17 March 2026

MDS-20070 - Promotional Cultures
Coordinator: Rachel Wood
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2026/27

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2026/27

Why is brand culture so ubiquitous in how we understand ourselves and our society, and the way we live our lives? You will investigate the histories and politics of marketing, advertising and consumerism, considering how and why promotional culture became such a key component of contemporary economies and societies. You will think critically about the social and political impacts of brand culture, including environmental harm, exploitation, and inequality. You will identify, discuss, and critically analyse key themes and trends in contemporary promotional culture.

Aims
The module aims to equip students with a critical understanding of promotional culture by engaging with key critical debates around branding, marketing, and consumerism. The module will give students a historical and contemporary view of how and why cultures of advertising and marketing and their related industries are so deeply embedded in contemporary societies, economies, politics, and daily ways of living. The module seeks to equip students with a nuanced critical understanding of how and why promotional culture can be socially meaningful and significant, along with debates around the limitations and harms of promotional culture, including those related to the environment and conditions of exploitation and inequality.

Intended Learning Outcomes

demonstrate awareness of key critical frameworks and debates surrounding cultures of promotion, branding, marketing, and consumerism.: 1,2
show a critical understanding of the relationship between promotion culture and historical and contemporary societies, economies, politics, and daily ways of living.: 2
demonstrate engagement with complex debates around the social meanings and potential harms of promotional cultures.: 2
apply key concepts and frameworks in critical academic promotional cultures scholarship to an analysis of contemporary advertising and promotional materials.: 1,2

Study hours

11 hours lectures
11 hours seminars
2 hours mood board design workshop
30 hours assessment 1 prep
45 hours assessment 2 prep
51 hours independent study including reading

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Poster weighted 40%
Mood board and 800 word critical commentary
Students will create a 'mood board' on a chosen theme. The mood board should visually represent recurring themes and trends within a selected area of advertising, marketing or promotion using techniques of collage with found promotional materials. Students will submit the mood board alongside a critical commentary. The commentary should analyse the selected promotional culture theme and the chosen materials on the mood board using critical academic approaches to promotional culture from the module. The commentary should also include a source list for the found materials used on the mood board.

2: Essay weighted 60%
Critical 1,500 word essay
Students will submit an essay on a topic chosen from a list of suggested essay prompts. The essay should engage critically with the themes of the module, drawing on academic sources covered on the module, and considering in particular the relation between promotional culture and broader society, as well as this culture's social meanings and potential harms. The use of images to illustrate and support the essay's critical argument and analysis is encouraged.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 17 March 2026