NIU’s American Marketing Association will present a week of activities to show how “Marketing Makes a Good Life Better” and “How Marketing Touches Your Life.”

Marketing Week, Feb. 15 through Feb. 19, will feature lectures and seminars covering aspects of advertising and careers in marketing.

DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow plans to give an opening speech in Wirtz Auditorium Monday at 9:15 p.m. NIU communication studies professor Charles Larson also will give a presentation.

Wendy Pullega, AMA public relations committee chairwoman, said Larson will give a speech on subliminal advertising. She said, “According to Advertising Age (magazine), the average person in America sees 5,000 persuasive messages a day.”

Larson said, “We have a sound slide show that I have used in my class.” He said subliminal advertising has been helpful in reducing shoplifting and marketing.

“We will discuss the validity of subliminal persuasion, if it is actually working in the subconcious mind,” Larson said. Subliminal advertising is a controversial issue because some say it is propagandist, while others say it is perfectly legitimate and helpful, he said.

Tuesday, the College of Business will sponsor Sophomore Night. A representative from AMA will give the keynote address about marketing.

Pullega said, “We are inviting professional organizations.”

AMA President Patrick Kagan said, “We will be talking about opportunities, about classes and about how extracurricular activities can help you.” He also said he will discuss how AMA prepared him for a job.

Representatives of Uarco Corporation will speak at 9:15 Wednesday in Wirtz Auditorium. The speech will be led by the corporation’s vice president of education and developement.

Uarco, based in Barrington, is a manufacturer and designer of business forms, such as billing and shipping forms.

“The subject of this talk will be how we train and select people for sales,” Uarco Representative Eric Pedderud said.

“We feel good about our training approach, which is similar to other companies’. It will be interesting for students to see how it is handled in business,” Pedderud said, adding that students will be learn the difference between classroom training and business training.

“We are very much goal-orientated toward business communication,” he said.

“Looking at the theme, “How Marketing Touches Your Life,” we realized that this not only affects college students but also focuses on high school students,” Kagan said.

Thursday, members of AMA will visit juniors and seniors in business classes at DeKalb High School.