english essay

English 101 Essay #3: Ad Analysis

Throughout this course we have looked at various aspects of our culture from gender stereotypes and labels, to media and how these impact our daily lives. The articles “Male body Imaging” and “Damage Done: Crack Babies Talk Back,” along with the brief clip of the video Killing us softly, show us just how much advertising and media not only influence our purchases, but also our identity, values, and perceptions. Advertisements can be found all around us: In magazines, commercials, popups, while using the internet, social media, apps, and even on billboards while we drive. Corporations spend large amounts of money to try and sell us things on a daily basis. However, they are not only trying to sell us products, they attach ideologies, and psychological strategies using logical, ethical, and emotional appeals to persuade us.

In this essay, I will ask you to consider the topics we have discussed in this course, and how they are used in media and advertisements. You will analyze a printed advertisement and use it as a visual text, and just like a textual analysis you will explain its various layers, from what it is depicting on the surface, to the message it is trying to convey, and how and why it is conveying it. What are they showing you? What are they trying to make you think? Who is their target audience? What specific elements of the ad are used to communicate its message, and reach its target audience? Consider not only rhetorical appeals such as ethos, pathos, and logos, but also other layers such as how space is used in the ad, text, colors, body language, etc. ( Do not just point out what a specific element is doing, elaborate on the significance).

Directions: 1. Find a full-page real (not fake) advertisement, either from a magazine or online. 2. Analyze the ad and formulate a clear thesis that distinguishes what the message, target audience, and purpose are. 3. Develop body paragraphs that explain your thesis (one aspect per paragraph). 4. After a thorough analysis, explain if the ad is effective and how or why it is or is not effective. What is the significance of this kind of advertising in society? 5. Do not use outside sources on this essay, only the advertisement. Essay requirements:

 3-5 pages (at least three spilling onto four)  10% deduction if page requirement is not met  MLA format (12 pt. font, Times New Roman)  Peer Review and rough draft must be attached to the final draft.  Do not use “I”

Rough Draft due: 11/2/2016 Final Draft Due: 11/9/2016