Debates on Digital Advertising Strategies: An Experiential Approach to Encourage Critical Thinking

Abstract

Abstract: The digital world we live in today presents opportunities as well as challenges. As marketers, digital and social media platforms facilitate a vast reach to global consumers and enable fast ways to approach them with diverse content. But consumers with their own biases and influenced by geography, culture, and society may differentially interpret strategies and content. As future leaders, it is increasingly important for our students to understand diversity of thought and gain skills to address this with an open mind. Having the skills to critically analyze and objectively evaluate a situation through differing viewpoints and overcoming personal biases are increasingly important for future success in life and one's career. At the same time, experiential learning techniques which foster fun learning experiences can help increase a student's engagement. This article details a debate approach for analyzing digital advertising and marketing strategies in a digital/social media marketing class. A multi-format debate technique is used to facilitate higher-order critical thinking skills and improve interactivity among students. A step-by-step detailed lesson plan, learning goals, assessment rubrics, and instructions to adapt debates to online formats are provided for educators' use.