Help

First, a review of what thesis does:

1. Names the topic (in this case, it declares the product and makes it clear to the reader that an advertisement is being examined).

2. Makes an assertion (opinion) about the topic.

3. (optional) Presents an overview of the support.

Now, practice making some thesis statements for your ad.

For your ad, develop a thesis statement for which the assertion is textually based.

Example: Though reinforced and modified by other pieces of text, in this magazine advertisement for Secret Moonlit Rose antiperspirant, “When you’re strong, you sparkle,” the text right at the top of the ad, embodies the ideas of confidence and personality that this ad suggests users of the product will acquire.

For your ad, develop a thesis statement for which the assertion is based on the ad’s image.

Example: In this ad for Secret Moonlit Rose antiperspirant, the main images of the woman and product container, backed by lesser imagistic elements, suggest that by using the product, one can achieve the confidence and personality to succeed in life.

For your ad, develop a thesis statement that makes what might seem to be an outlandish assertion about the working of the ad.

Example: Using a carefully orchestrated mix of text and image, the advertisement for Secret Moonlit Rose antiperspirant suggests that using the product will magically transform you into a sex goddess.

While all of the above examples are working specific to the demands of the prompts, only the last one is working well enough to serve as a thesis statement for an essay because only it includes the ideas of both text and image in its overview of structure, and we certainly want to give that full coverage to the ads we’ll present.