Date of Award

Fall 12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication & Theatre Arts

Program/Concentration

Lifespan and Digital Communication

Committee Director

Brendan O’Hallarn

Committee Member

Myles McNutt

Committee Member

Steffon Campbell

Abstract

The American dream is a concept that is echoed across our society, and while the data show Americans do not overwhelmingly believe in the dream, marketers continue to pair it and the issue of economic prosperity in their agendas. Through a novel framework that overlaps a deeply studied mass communication theory with a decision-making framework used in marketing, this paper demonstrates a new lens to understand how marketers identify strategies and tactics, build agendas, and make sales by touting the American dream. As separate entities, decision-making models and agenda setting theory are powerful, but together can create an environment that is powerfully persuasive. The conceptual model presented in this paper helps to visualize these interconnected processes in a way that has not been done before in today’s modern media landscape. This model is an important visualization of the power marketers have when they build strategies and plan tactics to move an individual down the path of purchase.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/v4r5-k305

ISBN

9798276040264

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