dog and cat icon Paper #4: Analysis of Two Ads

 

Readings:  Allyn & Bacon Chapter 9: Analyzing Images; You can also refer to Chapter 5: Seeing Rhetorically.

To help you with this paper, pay attention to the following sections of Chapter 9: Analyzing Images

1.            How Images Create a Rhetorical Effect (213-216)

2.            How Advertisers Target Specific Audiences (220-222)

3.            Sample Analysis of an Advertisement (222-224)

4.            Cultural Perspectives of Advertisements (225-229)

5.            Sample Student Essay "How Cigarette Advertisers Address the Stigma Against Smoking: A Tale of Two Ads" (Bean 230-233)

 

Assignment:  Choose one of the following types of ads that are selling either a product or a viewpoint:

a.             two print advertisements that sell the same kind of product but appeal to different audiences (for example, a car advertisement aimed at men and another aimed at women; a beer ad aimed at upper-middle class consumers and one aimed at working-class consumers).

b.             two ads (either print or from a website homepage) from organizations and advocacy groups representing different perspectives on the same topic/issue (examples of issues—Arctic oil drilling, medical research using animals, gun control, etc.; you could even use the topic/issue you used for your Exploratory Essay.)

c.             two military recruiting or political ads

 

Describe each ad in detail so that an audience can easily visualize it without actually seeing it.  Analyze each advertisement and explain how each ad appeals to its target audience.  To what values does each ad appeal?  How is each ad constructed to appeal to those values?  In addition to analyzing the rhetorical appeals made by each ad, comment on the images of American culture that they convey.

 

Make sure you answer the following questions about your ad:

  1. What is the ad trying to do? (introduce a new product, establish brand identity, make you switch brands, sell a viewpoint, make a political statement?)
  2. Who is the intended audience?
  3. What strategies are used to sell the product or viewpoint? (bandwagon, sex appeal, emotional words, visual imagery)
  4. What are the implied messages in the ad?
  5. What does the ad reveal about American culture?

 

See "Shaping and Drafting" (234 in your Allyn & Bacon textbook) for a recommended structure for your paper.

 

Minimum word count requirement:  750 words (you can write more, up to 1200 words)

Rough Draft DUE: Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006

Final Draft DUE: Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006