Jhally is often highly critical of popular culture, advertising, as well as various aspects of US foreign policy.

In his 1991 video "Dreamworlds" he describes the image of women in music videos as male adolescent fantasies: young and pretty, willing and eager to please men, saying no when meaning yes, often reduced to outward appearances and body parts. He concludes that an unhealthy attitude towards sexual violence can be fostered by these videos, and calls for balancing them with other cultural representations of sexuality. When MTV complained about his use of parts of copyrighted music videos, he claimed fair use and contacted the media about the story.

He has been quoted as saying, “Advertising tells us that the way to happiness is through the consumption of objects. The immense accumulation of commodities has to be sold, and it is sold through the story of goods bringing happiness.” In his essay "Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse" and his video "Advertising and the End of the World" he argues that the major cultural force today, pervasive advertising, by constantly reinforcing a bogus association between consumerism and happiness and by focusing on individual immediate needs, stands in the way of a discussion of societal and long-term needs and leads to a squandering of resources. The video "Killing Us Softly III", created with Jean Kilbourne, is a critique of the image of women in advertising.

Among other quotes students of his communication classes will hear from him, two of the most unforgettable are "knowing where something comes from, changes how you feel about it" and the phrase "the discourse through and about objects."

In the 2004 video "Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land" he shows the influence of Israeli propaganda and PR on the United States public opinion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the 2004 video "Hijacking Catastrophe" he argues that the "war on terror" has been used by U.S. officials as a pretext to project military power across the world.

In his 2006 video "Reel Bad Arabs" he explores the vilification of Arabs in American cinema, following Jack Shaheen's 2001 book Reel Bad Arabs.

Video documentaries

• Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video (2007) (trailer)
• Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006), based on Jack Shaheen's 2001 book Reel Bad Arabs (trailer)
• Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land (with Bathsheba Ratzkoff), (2004) (full video)
• 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire (with Jeremy Earp), (2004) (full video)
• Wrestling with Manhood: Boys, Bullying & Battering (with Jackson Katz) (2002) (trailer)
• No Logo (2003), based on Naomi Klein's book No Logo (full video)
• Killing Us Softly 3 (with Jean Kilbourne) (1999) (full video)
• Tough Guise: Men, Violence and the Crisis in Masculinity (with Jackson Katz) (1999) (trailer)
• Off the Straight and Narrow (with Katherine Sender) (1998) (trailer)
• Advertising and the End of the World (1998) (trailer)
• Dreamworlds II: Desire, Sex, Power in Music Video (1997) (full video)
• Slim Hopes (with Jean Kilbourne) (1995) (trailer)
• The Date Rape Backlash (1994) (trailer)
• The Killing Screens (with George Gerbner) (1994) (trailer)
• Pack of Lies - the Advertising of Tobacco (with Jean Kilbourne) (1992) (trailer)

Books

• The spectacle of accumulation : essays in culture, media, & politics, (2006), ISBN 0820479047
• Social Communication in Advertising (with William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Jacqueline Botterill), (2004), ISBN 04-159-667-60
• The Codes of Advertising (1999), ISBN 04-1590-353-X
• Enlightened Racism (with Justin Lewis), (1992), ISBN 0813314194. Argues that The Cosby Show reinforced the myth that Blacks who don't "make it" have only themselves to blame.

Articles

• Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse (in: Robin Andersen and Lance Strate (eds.), Critical studies in media commercialism, New York 2000)