ObituaryJim Albright
Submitted on Friday, September 14, 2012
Jim Albright, associate professor of advertising in the Mayborn School of Journalism,
died June 30 in Denton. Albright joined the journalism faculty in 1989 and served
as chair of the Department of Journalism from 2000 to 2003. He was previously a copywriter,
broadcast producer and creative chief for several large advertising agencies and was
the president of Jim Albright Advertising and Albright Council during the 1970s. His
clients included the American Heart Association, Astroworld, Pepsi Cola, Maxwell House
and Mrs. Baird’s Bread. As a creative group head at TracyLocke in Dallas during the
late 1960s and early 1970s, he helped to create a Doritos ad campaign that ran for
12 years and made Doritos the best seller for Frito-Lay. He also is credited with
creating the name “Funyuns” for the onion-flavored corn snack introduced by Frito-Lay
in 1969. While teaching, Albright continued to work as an advertising consultant and
producer. In 1998, he received two national awards for a Sally Beauty Co. commercial
he created with JDK Communications in Dallas. The author of the textbook Creation
of the Advertising Message, Albright wrote numerous articles for AdWeek and other
publications. He also taught at the University of Missouri at Columbia and Southern
Methodist University. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri
and a law degree from the University of Toledo.