Assignment II—Advertisement Analysis
When we analyze, we break down an object into its component parts to understand how these parts work together. In other words, we focus on how something works. Just
like any other texts, advertisements can be analyzed to discover how they achieve their purpose.
Purpose: To show how an advertisement functions, focusing on how advertisers adapt to their audience and use specific strategies to achieve their purpose. You will
analyze the ad in detail, describe the rhetorical strategy of the ad, and explain how the ad appeals to its target audience.
Critical analysis—Instead of only showing how an ad works, you can expand your essay and pass judgment on the ad analyzed. You could explain, among other things, why
an ad is effective (or not), show how some ads perpetuate racial, ethnic, class, or gender stereotypes, show how some ads encourage some questionable values
(shallowness? vanity? insecurity? cult of the body? competition? etc.).
Topic: Any print advertisement. Many ads can be found through a Google search; however, retrieving your ad this way means that you are depriving yourself of a very
important clue regarding the audience that an ad aims to reach. For instance, knowing that your ad was published in Men’s Health would greatly help you identify the
ad’s intended audience.
Audience: Any college-educated reader, whether or not he/she is familiar with the ad you are analyzing, should be able to follow. This means that you should make sure
to include accurate and detailed description of the ad that you analyze.
Length: 650-700 words.
Analyzing an advertisement: When analyzing an ad, pay attention to the following elements:
The text How much of it appears in the ad? What does it say? Where is it placed?
The visual components The ‘characters’—who, if anybody, appears in this ad? Is it a celebrity or someone well known? A stranger? What are the expressions of the
people featured in the ad?
The ‘setting’—where is the ad set? What story does it tell?
The colors—are some colors more heavily used than others?
Also, make sure to address the following:
o Identify the place and time of publication
o Identify the intended audience
o Identify the author
o Identify the tone
o Identify the rhetorical strategies used in the ad (how does the ad attempt to convince the consumer to buy the product it advertises? On what emotions and
desires does the ad play?)
Important dates:
2/7— Audience analysis is due in class
2/14— Outline of your ad analysis is due in class
2/16—A typed rough draft of your ad analysis is due in class
2/21—A full and typed draft of your ad analysis is due at conference time
2/23– A full, typed and revised draft of your Analysis is due for the in-class editing workshop—No draft, no credit.
2/28—Final draft of your Ad Analysis is due. Submit a hard copy in class and a digital one (.doc, .rtf, .pdf) in D2L’s dropbox
