SU London students addressed by Conservative Shadow Home Secretary at Palace of Westminster
April 21, 2009SU London students in Professor Joe Videan’s ADV 345 course, Economics, Persuasion and the Global Market Place, had a unique opportunity to meet with Chris Grayling MP, Shadow Home Secretary and number 4 in the Conservative party, at the Palace of Westminster earlier this month. The meeting, set in the Parliament meeting rooms, provided political context for the course, which explores controversial advertising topics such as religion, targeting children, tobacco, sex, and politics. Videan’s course taps a plethora of London’s resources—putting students in contact with leading practitioners from some of Britain’s most successful companies and advertising agencies as well as regulatory bodies, often on sites of cultural or professional significance.
“Chris Grayling gave students a ‘warts and all’ accounting of British political advertising, including a comparison and contrast with the American system,” recounts Videan. The political cut and thrust of Grayling’s talk were underscored by the peaceful chanting of anti India slogans by Sri Lankan protestors from Parliament Square, opposite the Palace of Westminster. It was anexperience of democracy that for many students was a highlight of the term.
Student Eva Zaccaria described the experience as surreal, adding, “Not only did I gain much knowledge about how differently things work in a country that I find so similar to America, but after his talk Grayling told us some history as well. It was a cultural learning experience and one of the most interesting trips I took within London this semester.”
Additional guest speakers this semester included Rory Sutherland, vice chairman and executive creative director of OgilvyOne; Chris Arnold, creative director and founder of Feel; Alan Curson, creative director of the Communications Agency; and Victoria Preston and Andy Taylor of the Advertising Standards Authority, among others.