Ad Agency Launches Media Literacy Courses for College Prep Students

Corona del Mar, CA— January 29, 2019 ( PR Submission Site ) Media Collusion, a media watchdog and educational resource led by local advertising executive Phil Dunn, announced media literacy courses for Orange County students. The classes and interactive workshops are based on the new book, Media Collusion: Journalism and Marketing Experts Share the Secrets of Sneaky Advertising, Targeted Persuasion, AI and Tracking, Political Deception and Coercion, and Dishonest News.

“Something’s missing in today’s educational setting,” said Phil Dunn, author of Media Collusion. “Kids participate enthusiastically in media, on devices and with social networks, but they don’t know how media and advertising work. This isn’t taught in schools.”

“It’s a bit of a crime,” continued Dunn. “We’ve failed our kids in some ways. When you don’t know how the forces around you are working, you can go through young life at a huge disadvantage. The best thing a student – young or old – can do is to get smart about how they’re being manipulated and pitched.”

The Media Collusion courses cover media history, technique and the modern internet/smart phone landscape. According to Dunn, the courses offer students the ability to analyze and combat advertising strategies and be intentional about consumer choices. They also develop critical thinking skills that allow students to examine the motivations, economics and powers behind entertainment, news and advertising media.

“If you don’t understand how things work, you become misinformed and fall for things like fake news,” said Dunn. “And fake news covers quite a range of things, from political issues to native advertising for actual products that get cooked into legitimate news stories.”

Dunn’s solution is knowledge.

“In a few short courses, I can take a relatively green student from a media novice to an expert in media literacy,” he said. “My students can spot specific examples across all media, including TV, books, newspapers, blogs, YouTube, podcasts, social media networks and video games.”

Dunn is a professional marketer and journalist with an M.A. in journalism from the University of Southern California, a B.A. in history from UC Berkeley, and 23 years of marketing, reporting and publishing experience. His company, Synapse Services Co., helps businesses tell their stories via digital marketing and content development strategies. He’s also the author of McGraw-Hill’s best-selling eBay marketing book The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing.