Ad Analysis

Ad Analysis Essay

Workshop: 2/11 Due: 2/12 Weight: 10% Length: 3-4 pg

The ultimate goal of any commercial or advertisement is to persuade an audience to buy a product. In order to do that, ads often invoke certain ideas about lifestyle, desire, necessity, and tradition. You first formal assignment is to choose an advertisement and perform a close rhetorical analysis of how that ad functions. You may choose anything from a movie trailer to a television commercial to a print ad. While performing your analysis, take into consideration the three appeals and how they come together to create a unique message in your ad. Consider the rhetorical situation and the cultural implications behind the way the ad functions.

Keep the following questions in mind when crafting your rhetorical analysis:

· What is the rhetorical situation?

· Who is the author/speaker?

· What is being advertised?

· What is his/her intention in speaking?

· Who is the target audience?

· What is the exigence? What are the constraints?

· What is the content of the message?

· What is the form in which it is conveyed?

· How do form and content correspond?

· Does the message/speech/text succeed in fulfilling the author’s/speaker’s intentions?

· What does the nature of the communication reveal about the culture that produced it?

If you are struggling to figure out where to start, take a look at the Rhetorical Analysis Checklist and try taking some notes while you watch your advertisement.

Remember: Do not focus on whether or not you are persuaded by the speaker/author. Focus only on how the speaker conveys their message.

· 3-4 full pages

· 12 pt, Times New Roman font

· MLA format