An Examination of Campustruth Advertisements: Are they Legitimate?
Location
CSU 255
Start Date
12-4-2004 10:30 AM
End Date
12-4-2004 12:00 PM
Student's Major
Communication Studies
Student's College
Arts and Humanities
Mentor's Name
Daniel Cronn-Mills
Mentor's Department
Communication Studies
Mentor's College
Arts and Humanities
Description
In the fall of 2002 Campustruth started placing anti-Arab and anti-Muslim advertisements in campus newspapers across the nation. According to their mission statement at Campustruth.org, Campustruth claims to be a group of Americans from all faiths, who accept diversity of opinions, and believe in truth and accuracy. Yet its ads display a contradictory message as they clearly target Arabs as adversaries. Perhaps what it should say is all faiths...except Islam. Analysis of these ads is vital for the following reason: our nation has always been a mixture of cultures, and with the mixture has always come dissenting opinions; the level of dissent, however, is aggravated and perpetuated by advertisements like those from Campustruth. The organization presents opinion as fact. Thus we must ask, do Campustruth's advertisements have legitimacy, despite the irony in its organization? In order to analyze Campustruth's ads we will utilize Angela Trethewey's article "Isn't it Ironic: Using Irony to Explore the Contradictions of Organizational life," found in the Spring 1999 Western Journal of Communication. Trethewey's theory is appropriate because it evaluates the irony created by organizations to justify contradictions in their messages.
An Examination of Campustruth Advertisements: Are they Legitimate?
CSU 255
In the fall of 2002 Campustruth started placing anti-Arab and anti-Muslim advertisements in campus newspapers across the nation. According to their mission statement at Campustruth.org, Campustruth claims to be a group of Americans from all faiths, who accept diversity of opinions, and believe in truth and accuracy. Yet its ads display a contradictory message as they clearly target Arabs as adversaries. Perhaps what it should say is all faiths...except Islam. Analysis of these ads is vital for the following reason: our nation has always been a mixture of cultures, and with the mixture has always come dissenting opinions; the level of dissent, however, is aggravated and perpetuated by advertisements like those from Campustruth. The organization presents opinion as fact. Thus we must ask, do Campustruth's advertisements have legitimacy, despite the irony in its organization? In order to analyze Campustruth's ads we will utilize Angela Trethewey's article "Isn't it Ironic: Using Irony to Explore the Contradictions of Organizational life," found in the Spring 1999 Western Journal of Communication. Trethewey's theory is appropriate because it evaluates the irony created by organizations to justify contradictions in their messages.
