Essay #6: Ad Analysis
For this essay, use one of the advertisements provided by the instructor in the “Advertisements for Essay #6” page. (Do not use an advertisement from one of the discussions, homework, or examples in the reading.)
Note: This essay does not require peer workshop feedback since it is replacing an in-class essay we’d have during a normal semester.
Making sure to indicate which advertisement you are using, write an essay analyzing the form of the advertisement and why it was constructed in the fashion it was. Much of what you learned for the Rhetorical Analysis essay will help direct your analysis here.
- In the same way you would with the Rhetorical Analysis essay, consider the purpose of the ad and the intended audience.
- Analyze how different components such as subject, text, font, color, pictures, drawings, graphics, and logos, would affect the reader.
- How does framing or placement of components on the page help build content and influence the reader?
- Additionally, analyze considerations such as tone: is this ad serious or humorous, and how does that tone affect the reader?
- If there are models (people) in the ad, can you see the face of each, and where is each person looking? What does the gaze imply?
- If you can’t see the face or entire body of each, what do the areas included or omitted imply?
- Is a specific lifestyle beyond the product itself being marketed to the reader?
