Education
Ph.D., Media Studies, University of Western Ontario (2011)
M.A., Communication & Social Justice, University of Windsor (2007)
Honours B.A., Communication Studies, York University (2004)
Areas of Interest
My research and teaching areas include advertising and consumer culture, children’s media culture, media history, and the political economy of media industries.
Selected Publications
Co-Authored Book
Social Communication in Advertising 4th edition. New York: Routledge, 2018. (Co-author, with William Leiss, Stephen Kline, Sut Jhally, and Jacqueline Botterill.)
Edited Book
Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Canadian Society: A Reader. Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 2018.
Journal Articles
“The Visual Clichés of Legal Cannabis Promotion on Social Media.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, 38, no. 4 (2021): 336–349.
“Branding Cannabis in Canada: Challenges for the Cannabis Act’s Promotion Restrictions.” Canadian Journal of Communication, 46, no. 1 (2021): 79–98.
“A Critical Analysis of Attempts to Regulate Native Advertising and Influencer Marketing.” International Journal of Communication, 14 (2020): 5729–5749. (Lead author, with Emily Fraser)
“Classic Campaign: From Consumers of Food to Participants in the ‘Modern’ Consumer Marketplace: How Cream of Wheat Approached Children, 1900-1935.” Advertising & Society Review 16, no. 1 (2015).
“Knowing the Child Consumer Through Box-Tops: Data Collection, Measurement, and Advertising to Children, 1920-1945.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 32, no. 2 (2015): 112–127.
“Join the Club: Food Advertising, 1930s Children’s Popular Culture, and Brand Socialization.” Popular Communication 12, no. 1 (2014): 17–31.
“Promotional Prime Time: ‘Advertainment,’ Internal Network Promotion, and the Future of Canadian Television.” Canadian Journal of Communication 37, no. 2 (2012): 241–257. (lead author, with Alison Hearn)
“From Active Young Explorers to Passive Young Consumers: The Commercialization of Canada’s OWL Magazine.” American Review of Canadian Studies 41, no. 3 (2011): 198–211. (lead author, with Allison Roberts and Daniel Robinson)
“A Critical Analysis of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Self-Regulatory Initiatives.” Democratic Communiqué: Journal of the Union for Democratic Communications 23, no. 2 (Fall 2009): 41–60.
Book Chapters
"How the Advertising Industry Approaches Legal Cannabis: A Trade Press Analysis." In The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture 2nd edition, edited by Emily West and Matthew P. McAllister, 101–112. New York: Routledge, 2023.
“Influencer Marketing, the Commercial Forces of Social Media Celebrity, and Challenges for Canadian Advertising Regulation.” In Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Canadian Society: A Reader, edited by Kyle Asquith, 207–224. Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 2018.
“Protecting the ‘Guinea Pig Children’: Resisting Children’s Food Advertising in the 1930s.” In Shopping for Change: Consumer Activism and the Possibilities of Purchasing Power, edited by Louis Hyman and Joseph Tohill, 85–96. Toronto: Between the Lines, 2017.
“Hypercommercialism and Canadian Children’s Television: The Case of YTV.” In Canadian Television: Text and Context, edited by Marian Bredin, Scott Henderson, and Sarah Matheson, 95–111. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011.
Graduate Supervisions
Kojok, Bayan. "Reinventing Child Labour: A Contemporary Analysis of Children's Participation in the Digital Labour Economy." Major research paper defended October 7, 2022.
Milanis, Amanda. “Changing the Game: A Critical Media Analysis of ESPN and espnW.” Major research paper defended January 15, 2021.
O’Gorman, Brenna. “#TrippinWithTarte: The Immaterial Labour of Selling Calculated Authenticity and Glamour on Instagram.” Major research paper defended July, 2019.
Vido, Jasmine. “A Critical Investigation of Bell Let’s Talk.” Major research paper defended January, 2019.
Milenkovic, Darko. “Native Advertising Disclosures in Journalism: An Assessment on the Accurate Reporting of Disclosure Wording in Conveying Advertising Intent.” Major research paper defended June 2018.
Forbes, Erin. “Manufacturing the Mythology of Be-Leaf: A Thematic Analysis of 2017 Playoff Coverage in the Toronto Star.” Major research paper defended December 2017.
Farshori, Farwa. “Social Innovation: A Promotional Tactic for the Neoliberal University or Means of Change?” Major research paper defended October 2016.
Romanko, Anne-Marie. “A Curriculum in Capitalism: EnRICHed Start as Neoliberal Financial Literacy Education.” Major research paper defended May 2016.
Al Saadi, Miram. “Beauty and the Online World: A Visual and Textual Analysis of Personal Branding and the YouTube Beauty Guru.” Major research paper defended January 2016.
Armbruster, Natalie. “The Corporate Co-optation of the ‘Natural’ Food Label: A Case Study of Maple Leaf Food's Natural Selections Line.” Major research paper defended April 2015.