A Degree in Advertising: an unwanted child of the business. Why academia and advertising should not be bridged.

The results of this research have reflected a number of myths and misconceptions about advertising as a business and advertising as a subject. A lack of clarity regarding the origin of advertising within academic classification revokes the old problem of the divide between disciplines, and highlights the lack of interaction between theory and practice. Practitioners' distrust towards vocationally-orientated academic courses does correspond with the confusion of graduates who are not able to define their employability status. A conflict between industry and academia has been identified and a high level of uncertainty, especially in regard to mutual responsibilities and forms of co-operation and communication has been revealed. For the purpose of this paper I concentrate on two problems: 1) the professional categorisation of advertising 2) a position of advertising within academic disciplines. Finally, I observe to what extent the lack of disciplinarity clarity of advertising can enhance students' employability and how industry can be challenged by the graduates' input.

Citation:
Rabikowska, M. (2009) ‘A Degree in Advertising: an unwanted child of the business. Why academia and advertising should not be bridged’ Journal of Employability and the Humanities 1 (3) 1-16.