Write a well-developed analysis that deconstructs how the advertisement works to capture the audience’s attention and sell the product. The paper should use at least two direct quotes and four or more paraphrases from the sources I provided above.
Think about the following questions. You will need to answer all of them in your essay.
Who is the target audience of the advertisement you selected and how do you know this?
What strategies are used to sell the item?
What basic appeals are being made and how do you know that?
How are layout tools like colors, lighting, balance, proportion, unity, and others defined in our articles being used?
In your opinion, does the ad effectively sell the product?
What assumptions does your ad make about people or our society?
If there are figures in the ad, what are they like? What does the ad say about age, sex, ethnicity, education, gender, etc?
How does the text contribute to the ad? How does the font of the text affect the ad?
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What cultural myths are invoked in this ad?
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What relationship do you see between those myths and the target audience for the publication?
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How are the designers making use of color, lighting, copy, and positioning of the models?
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Has the public reacted in any way to this ad?
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What story does this ad tell about how happiness is achieved? About what culture is or should be like?
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How is this ad playing off of its audience’s desires and/or fears?
I always have several people ask me about the “required length” of the paper due. I don’t think that you need to focus on a length at this level of English; therefore, I did not include one. I did, however, include the directions, my advice, and several thought stimulating questions with the assignment. The required length should be as long as it takes you to accomplish the following objectives:
Introduce and describe the advertisement–the magazine/website’s title and issue date (if there is one) and the name of the company who produced the advertisement should be mentioned. You also need to include a thesis statement, which would give an overall summary of the main points you will be exploring in your paper.
Analyze the advertisement. This is where you prove to me that you have read and understood the articles. I expect you to “take the bull by the horns” by utilizing the new vocabulary you have come across. I expect to see terms that were introduced and explained in the articles used in your own analysis. You should address the rhetorical triangle as well, meaning identify the advertisement’s subject, audience, and author and the contexts acting upon all three of those items. Yes, do provide a description of the advertisement, but go beyond that by asking WHY the company chose to use the lighting, layout, fonts, colors, and spacing that it did. Every detail of an advertisement is done on purpose. There are no accidents. The difference between the A paper and the D paper here is the author’s ability to explain or hypothesize WHY something might have been shown the way it is and WHAT THAT MEANS to the consumers and societies it is geared towards.
As with any paper, conclude with an overall restatement of your thesis and some thought-provoking questions, observations, or comments that leave the reader thinking of your points after he or she has set the paper down.
I am not interested in the length. I have found that giving “required lengths” makes students add filler when they have run out of good things to say or it makes a student quit prematurely when the length is reached but the paper isn’t complete. Every writer is different, and every writer will take a unique amount of space to communicate his or her message. If this freaks you out; don’t let it. Breathe, compose a well-developed paper, and check it for grammatical errors.
*This paper DOES require sources. You can ONLY use the articles, websites, and sources that I have posted labeled READINGS. Do not pull in outside sources for this analysis other than the advertisement/image you have chosen.
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