Analyze an advertisement that you come across in your daily life. This could be in the form of magazine advertisements, commercials on TV,
Analyze an Advertisement
Format: MLA format with a header, heading, original title, and work(s) cited page; ideally 5 body paragraphs (introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and conclusion); 11 point Arial or 12 point Times New Roman Font; 3-5 pages; minimum 650 words.
Analyze an advertisement (print or video) that you come across in your daily life. This could be in the form of magazine advertisements, commercials on TV, Youtube, or social media, subway posters, or a combination thereof. Consider the subject (Who created the advertisement?), the intended audience (Who specifically is the advertisement aimed at?), and the purpose (Why create this advertisement?). Go deeper than just “to sell a product” or “to make money”; what was the intended reaction in the audience? E.g. “to empower women”, “to make the user popular”, or “to present an environmentally friendly image”.
You will need to describe the advertisement (What do we see? Summarize the content) and analyze it based on your argument about it. This means you need a thesis or statement of your opinion about the advertisement: not simply “it’s good” or “it’s bad”; does it effectively reach its intended audience? Why/why not? Is it pandering? Does it “try too hard” to be hip or appeal to young people? Use your experience as a culturally-literate member of society to look at the meaning behind the advertisement and analyze it. Refer to Carroll, “Backpacks vs. Briefcases” for steps to rhetorical analysis and Irvin, “What Is Academic Writing?” for tips about how to develop your thesis and structure your essay.
Requirements:
An introduction where you identify the ad you are analyzing and state your opinion or thesis: what you are going to argue about it;
One paragraph summary or description of an example of the advertisement, either a visual description of a print ad or a summary of a video ad (i.e. what happens in the ad);
Two paragraphs of analysis: look deeply into the ad and explain what it is trying to say, what cultural messages it is sending (whether directly or indirectly) and support your thesis/argument about the ad: why is it effective (or not) in getting across its message;
A conclusion where you summarize your argument about the ad in a greater context: think about what the ad tells you about society, culture, etc.
Your essay must include a work(s) cited page:
For a video, cite the youtube video or website where you saw the ad:
Barbie. “Imagine The Possibilities | Barbie.” YouTube, 08 Oct. 2015,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1vnsqbnAkk
For a print ad, cite the magazine or publication the ad appears in with the page number(s):
CDC. Advertisement. Newsweek. 14 Sept. 2016, p.112.
There are more examples of how to do MLA citations online – you can even cite pop-up ads, Facebook posts, tweets, etc.
Answer preview for Analyze an advertisement that you come across in your daily life. This could be in the form of magazine advertisements, commercials on TV,
MLA
643 Words