Graduate Study in Advertising and the Core Curriculum

Abstract

Advertising education has been discussed for some time by numerous scholars and practitioners. Most have examined advertising education at the undergraduate level. In 1963, however, in a speech to members of the American Academy of Advertising, Vernon Fryburger discussed the graduate curricula:As in any academic activity, the graduate program in advertising would concentrate on the kind of experience it would be uniquely well-qualified to provide--broad exposure to relevant literature and concepts that excite the human intellect toward greater refinement. Instead of trading on the little bit we know, it would pose the big problem we haven't solved. It would deal more with concepts and strategies and would leave the tactics and mechanics for the on-the-job training later on. This penetrating study by mature students would provide both the incentive and the means for expanding the body of advertising knowledge (June 17, 1963).Not everyone agreed with Fryburger, as he acknowledged. Certain practitioners, he said, believed that graduate programs in advertising should provide skills so students could perform well in their jobs.Apparently, graduate programs in advertising failed to provide the necessary skills and concepts as far as practitioners were concerned. For instance, in 1974, executives of more than 500 advertising agencies were surveyed to learn of their attitudes toward academic preparation for careers in advertising. Almost half, 49.2 percent, responded to the questionnaire. In response to a question regarding the recommended type of graduate degree, 56 percent recommended a graduate degree either in business or marketing, or an M.B.A. Only 8.1 percent recommended communications or journalism. Less than 2 percent recommended a graduate degree in advertising (Gifford and Maggard, 1975). Practitioners preferred the skills and concepts of economics, marketing, and management that were taught in schools or colleges of business to those of mass communication theory and mass communication methods that were taught in schools or colleges of mass communications.In 1991, 320 executives at 220 advertising agencies were surveyed to determine whether an M.A. in advertising or in mass communications with an emphasis in advertising was more valuable than the M.B.A. to an entry-level job candidate. The M.B.A. was valued more highly, 33 percent to 22 percent, respectively (Richards and Stout, 1992).In 1992, personnel directors of the top 50 U.S. advertising agencies were surveyed to determine if there was a correlation between successful advertising agency careers and undergraduate education. The response rate was 40 percent and produced data on 158 major advertising agency Of the respondents, 43 had graduate degrees. Of these, 26 (60.5%) had earned the M.B.A. Even at the undergraduate level, marketing and/or business was the most popular major, followed by journalism and/or advertising. More senior advertising agency executives majored in professional programs such as marketing, business, and advertising during their college education than majored in humanities or anything else (Donnelly, 1992).Why is the M.B.A. the graduate degree of choice by so many advertising executives? This author believes part of the answer is the M.B.A. core-that is, the prescribed courses that provide certain skills and concepts that enable students to comprehend all the aspects, not just one or two, of a commercial enterprise.Purpose of the studyThe purpose of this study is to (a) provide a possible explanation for advertising agency executives' preference for the M.B.A. and (b) present an operable core curriculum for graduate programs in advertising that may be more attractive to advertising agency executives. To achieve the former, guidelines pertaining to graduate education by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) will be examined. …