The doctoral dissertation in the field of Educational Sciences will be examined at the Philosophical Faculty at Joensuu Campus.
What is the topic of your doctoral dissertation, and why is it important to study?
My research focuses on the development of advertising literacy teaching within subject teacher education. The research examines pre-service subject teachers’ strengths in teaching advertising literacy, the characteristics of rhizomatic learning associated with the adoption of these strengths, and the perceived meaningfulness of advertising literacy teaching. The research introduces the concept of hypersuasion into educational research, referring to highly subtle, hyperpersonalised, and difficult-to-detect forms of advertising enabled by artificial intelligence.
Advertising literacy is connected to an individual’s wellbeing, social relationships, values, identity formation, consumer behaviour, and capacity for autonomous decision-making. The conceptual-theoretical framework developed in the dissertation delineates the underlying reality and the network of meanings that form the foundation for the analysis. In this way, the framework is situated within a broader context of the advertising encountered by adolescents through neuromarketing, commercial media, and multimodal persuasion in their living environments.
What are the key findings of your doctoral dissertation?
The findings demonstrate the strengths in teaching advertising literacy as clustered in five dimensions: pedagogical and didactic strengths, persuasion mechanisms and multimodal influence, critical reflection, socio-cultural knowhow, and promotional knowledge. Together, these dimensions illustrate pre-service subject teachers’ capacities to analyse and teach advertising literacy. The research contributes new knowledge on rhizomatic learning and its significance in advertising literacy education. It illustrates how rhizomatic learning diversified conceptions of advertising literacy teaching and rendered teaching practices more personal and dynamic.
The findings also identify three levels of perceived meaningfulness in advertising literacy teaching. At the personal level, meaningfulness was linked to pre-service subject teachers’ value systems, and at the professional level to viewing advertising literacy as a methodologically and substantively versatile teaching topic that promotes prosocial behaviour. At the societal level, meaningfulness was associated with the potential of advertising literacy to foster critical thinking and to support the development of advertising literacy skills needed in adulthood in global contexts.
How can the findings of your doctoral dissertation be applied in practice?
Advertising literacy content develops the ability to recognize multimodal and social influence strategies. It also provides opportunities to strengthen students’ critical reading, viewing, and listening skills across different school subjects. With the increasing role of artificial intelligence, the identification of gestural, emotional, and voice persuasion has become particularly important. The research foregrounds the relationship between advertising and the mental, physical, social, and economic wellbeing of children and adolescents.
Although advertising literacy is primarily developed within the family context, the findings highlight a growing need to strengthen advertising literacy both among students and among pre-service subject teachers. The results can be utilised in the development of national and international media and AI literacy curricula and content.
What are the key research methods and data used in your doctoral dissertation?
The research questions are exploratory in nature, which is why qualitative research methods are employed. The empirical data consist of semi-structured interviews with subject teacher students conducted in 2016 and 2025. The interviews were analysed using abductive thematic analysis. In addition, the study draws on concept maps created by the interviewees. The rhizomatic and strengths-based approach to advertising literacy in subject teacher education developed in the study is grounded in both empirical findings and the conceptual–theoretical framework constructed in the research.
The doctoral dissertation Mari Kuusimäki, MA, entitled Towards hypersuasion: Rhizomatic and strengths-based advertising literacy for subject teacher education, will be examined at the Philosophical Faculty. The opponent in the public examination will be Professor Sirkku Kotilainen of Tampere University, and the custos will be Professor Ritva Kantelinen of the University of Eastern Finland.
For further information, please contact:
Mari Kuusimäki, mari.kuusimäki(at)uef.fi, +358 50 323 6131