Cesar Jimenez Martinez

This course is available on the MSc in Marketing, MSc in Media and Communications, MSc in Media and Communications (Communication, Culture and Global Cities) (LSE and NYU), MSc in Media and Communications (Research), MSc in Politics and Communication and MSc in Strategic Communications and Society. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: Priority will normally be given to students enrolled on Media and Communications degree programmes; however, course specific availability is indicated via the 'Availability' section of each individual course guide webpage. The number of students that can be accommodated is limited. If a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated at the Department's discretion. Students are advised to have an alternative course in mind in case they are unable to secure their first-choice course selection.

A list of all taught master's courses in this Department are listed on the Department's Course Selection and Videos webpage.

Students who have this course listed as compulsory are guaranteed a place and no written statement is required.

For all other students, places on these controlled access courses will be allocated via a random ballot process with priority given to students with the course listed on their programme regulations, followed by other Department of Media and Communications students, then students from elsewhere in the School. By submitting an application, students are confirming that they meet any pre-requisites specified. Providing an additional written statement will not aid a student's chances of being accepted onto a course that does not require a written statement.

Deadline for application: Students required to take this compulsory course will be automatically enrolled on LSE for You.

For queries contact: Contact Media.MSc@lse.ac.uk with queries.
Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.

This course is 'controlled access', meaning that there is a limit to the number of students who can be accepted. If the course is oversubscribed, offers will be made via a random ballot process, with priority given to students with the course listed on their Programme Regulations. Whilst we do our best to accommodate all requests, we cannot guarantee you a place on this course.

There are no pre-requisites for this course. Students should apply via LSE for You without submitting a statement.

Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.

Brands are everywhere, from products and services to countries, influencers and social movements. Yet such ubiquity means that brands are often taken for granted, as a natural element of everyday lives. This course aims to critically unpack the significance of brands in society by looking at the relationship between brands and personal and collective identities. The course, led by an academic with a decade of experience in journalism and branding, examines these discussions from a theoretical and a practical reflective approach. The lectures will look at debates about the significance of brands in society, claims about the relationship between brands and ‘authenticity’, the knowledge production by professional branding models, the possibility of resisting brands, as well as how brands invite or impose different types of identities through practices such as self-branding, nation branding or the branding of gender and race. Students will be expected to critically engage with ideas from both theory and practice in the seminars, developing reflexivity and analytical skills.

10 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Students will be expected to produce 1 presentation in the term of teaching. 

Indicative reading

· Aronczyk, M. (2013) Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity. Oxford University Press.

· Arvidsson, A. (2006) Brands: Meaning and Value in Media Culture. Routledge.

· Banet-Weiser, S. (2012) Authentic TM: The Politics of Ambivalence in a Brand Culture. New York University Press.

· Davis, A. (2013) Promotional Cultures: The Rise and Spread of Advertising, Public Relations, Marketing and Branding, Polity Press.

· Eggeling, K. (2020). Nation-branding in Practice. Routledge.

· Hardy, J. (2022) Branded Content: The Fateful Merging of Media and Marketing. Routledge.

· Hund., E. (2023) The influencer industry: the quest for authenticity on social media. Princeton University Press

· Jiménez-Martínez, C. (2020). Media and the Image of the Nation during Brazil’s 2013 Protests. Palgrave.

· Klein, N. (2010) No Logo -10th Anniversary Edition. Fourth Estate.

· Kornberger, M. (2009) Brand Society. Cambridge University Press.

· Lekakis, E. (2022) Consumer Activism: Promotional Culture and Resistance. Sage.

· Moeller, H., D’Ambrosio, P. (2021). You and Your Profile: Identity after Authenticity. Columbia University Press.

· Moor, L (2007). The Rise of Brands. Berg.

· Powell, H. 2013. Promotional culture and convergence: Markets, methods, media. Routledge.

· Serazio, M. (2023) The Authenticity Industries: Keeping it "Real" in Media, Culture, and Politics. Stanford University Press.

· Sevin, E. Jiménez-Martínez, C., Miño, P. (2025). Nation Branding in the Americas: Contested Politics and Identities. Routledge.

· Sobande, F. (2024) Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture. University of California Press.

· Thompson, J.B. (1995) The Media and Modernity. Polity Press.

· Wernick, A. (1991) Promotional Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression. Sage.

Project (100%, 5000 words).

Project (100%, 5000 words) in the ST.

The summative assessment is a group rebranding plan and a critical essay, delivered by students working in pairs.