(MiICHAEL DANSER/The Daily Campus)

Cranky. Tired. Under-caffeinated. Many students report feeling this way during an 8 a.m. class, but the students of one SMU professor might be an exception.
 

Bright-eyed and smiling, Dr. Carrie La Ferle, a professor in the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU, walks in and begins class by sharing a few of her favorite inspiring quotes—splashed across the overhead projector in big, bold letters.  She uses these quotes to remind students of the importance of ethical decisions and actions not only in the world of advertising, but also in everyday life.
 

 “I’m definitely not a morning person, but hearing an inspiring quote motivates me and helps me get through the day,” advertising student, Caroline Fuller said.
 

For years, the advertising industry has received criticism for its lack of social responsibility and questionable morality, giving it a corrupt reputation. Don’t expect that reputation to last forever: La Ferle is working to nix it for good by teaching students about social responsibility.
 

And her strategy is simple: remind students of the differences between right and wrong.
 

La Ferle says she teaches a class on advertising ethics in hopes of not only changing the way society views advertising, but also improving the way companies advertise, providing students with the basic tools to create more beneficial and socially responsible advertisements.
 

Meg Jones, a sophomore advertising major and student of La Ferle, says the advertising ethics class helps her keep everything in perspective.
 

“Dr. La Ferle has made me realize the impact of a single misjudgment one person can make and how it can affect society as a whole,” Jones said.
 

The recent hype and criticism over advertisements during this year’s Super Bowl and the 2010 Winter Olympics provided La Ferle with examples of why students should care about revamping the image of the industry. In general, she said a majority of the ads reinforced the negative views; they were dark, perpetuated the stereotype of gender roles and overall, wasted money.  However, La Ferle did praise some ads.
 

  “The Audi commercial sent an environmentally friendly message, which was not only timely, but also humorous,” she said.  This is just the type of advertising La Ferle tells her students the industry needs more of in order to give advertising a better name.
 

A native of Toronto, La Ferle has lived and breathed advertising ever since she was a little girl. Mimicking her father, who worked in the industry, La Ferle would create and film her own mini commercials and sometimes even appear as an extra in her father’s ads. It was only natural that La Ferle’s early interest would later lead to her career and work in the industry.
 

La Ferle moved to the states, after receiving her bachelor’s from the University of Western Ontario, to further pursue her education and earn a master’s in advertising from Michigan State University; a degree that Canadian universities don’t offer. The rarity of a degree in advertising helped La Ferle win a job working as an account executive at the renowned TBWA/Chiat/Day agency in Toronto. After her time at TBWA/Chiat/Day, La Ferle decided she needed a change, so she packed her bags and headed to Japan to work for a licensing and merchandising company. While overseas, La Ferle taught English to Japanese business employees in a night school class to earn some extra money. She knew she would leave Japan with a better understanding of international advertising, but never expected to also leave with a new passion for teaching.
 

 La Ferle came to Texas to earn her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and began teaching international advertising and advertising ethics at SMU in 1997.
 

One of La Ferle’s main goals in her advertising ethics class is getting students to recognize their power to change the tarnished opinions of the advertising industry by simply practicing ethical behavior on a daily basis. Her lectures challenge students to open their eyes and think critically about the consequences of unethical behavior, preparing them to use their moral values to one day advance the industry.
 

Although she says she wants society to credit the deserving, socially responsible ads instead of always harping on all the negative effects, as the mother of Jordan, 6, and Anderson, 3, La Ferle understands the frustration when obscene and inappropriate advertising intrudes family settings.
 

 “I feel disappointed and shocked that somebody would approve such an ad. When an ad makes us as an institution look bad, I get angry,” La Ferle said. And that’s exactly why she teaches: to erase the stigma of the advertising industry.
 

“I love teaching, I love researching and I love advertising; in my job I get to do it all,” La Ferle said with a smile.  
 

She says she doesn’t ever plan on jumping back in to the agency side of advertising again, but there are some challenges La Ferle says she misses, such as “the strategy and problem-solving involved with working at an agency.”  
 

Along with being honored as a full professor at SMU, La Ferle, a member of the American Academy of Advertising since 1995, has been awarded a variety of grants for her quality research and sits on the editorial review boards for several academic journals. There’s not much she hasn’t accomplished, but she’s not done yet.
 

Next up for La Ferle? She says she wants to write a book on her cultural and international experiences; but before she does that, she will stay and watch the advertising graduate program that she helped create last year, take off.
 

“I just hope I can get these students, who are the future of advertising to make a difference and be good citizens,” she said.