In June 2020, after over one hundred years, the Aunt Jemima brand name was finally recognized and removed as derogatory. This course examines advertising in the United States historically and thematically, paying particular attention to how race, ethnicity, and difference are represented in American society. From the late 19th century on, we analyze advertising in relation to changing technologies; we study trade cards, print advertisements, posters, and radio and television commercials, from the perspectives of racism, feminism, gender, sexism, capitalism, modernism, etc. The aim is to understand how people construct, apprehend, and consume objects as forms of identity and meaning in the United States. The course is run as a seminar with readings from cultural studies, material culture studies, advertising histories, and contemporary news and magazine essays. Students will make presentations and write papers with class discussion essential to how the course works.