ENGL 1100 Ad Analysis Essay

ENGL 1100 Ad Analysis Essay (Take-Home)
Peer review discussion forum deadlines and essay due date for your section are listed on your
reading schedule and on Moodle
Instructions:
In a 4-page essay, analyze an advertisement of your choice that has been approved by your instructor. The ad
MUST be the same ad that you used for your timed paragraph assignment. In your essay, you will analyze the
symbolic significance of both the visual imagery and written text in the ad, explaining how the ad’s details (in
the image and in the written text), including the ad’s use of “weasel words (Lutz 168), help to appeal to some of
the needs outlined in Jib Fowles’s article “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals.”
The ad must be in colour and must contain BOTH visual imagery and written text (which MUST include at
least some of the kind of language William Lutz calls “weasel words”).
Some questions to help get you started planning your argument:
§ Who (what particular segment of the population) is the ad targeting? (This information should be
included in your introduction.)
§ What is the hidden or underlying message of the ad (other than “buy this product”)? What is the ad
selling on a metaphoric level rather than on a literal level? In other words, what needs/ideas/values/etc.
is the ad trying to “sell” to viewers?
§ How does the ad sell these needs/ideas/values?
§ To what needs or desires does the ad appeal? In your analysis, you must apply to your own ad some of
Jib Fowles’ ideas as outlined in “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” properly citing the article as a
source each time you do so.
§ How does the ad appeal to these needs/desires? What kinds of rhetorical/visual techniques does it use to
PERSUADE the reader of its hidden message? Do NOT just explain how the ad catches the reader’s
attention or shows the product’s effectiveness!!
§ What claims are implied by the ad? How do these implied claims compare to the actual claims being
made?
§ What kinds of “weasel words” (Lutz 168) are used in the ad? What is the effect of this “weasel[ly]”
language? How do these “weasel words” help to appeal to some of the needs Fowles discusses in his
article? In your analysis, you must apply to your own ad some of William Lutz’s ideas as outlined in
“With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything,” properly citing the article as a source each time you do
so.
§ What kinds of cultural assumptions does the ad make? What kinds of stereotypes does it use? What does
the ad suggest about who the reader is and what the reader values?
Some aspects of the ad you may wish to consider the significance of in your analysis:
§ the kinds, relative sizes, and placements (background or foreground) of the various images in the text
§ the relationship between the images in the text
§ the effect of colour and lighting (contrasts between light and dark)
§ the details (of setting, people, objects, animals, etc.) that are emphasized and the extent to which these
details are exaggerated and/or idealized
§ the symbolic significance of any details/objects/images in the ad
§ the emotional effect generated by the images
§ the meaning(s) of and/or the ideas expressed by any written text included in the ad
§ rhetorical strategies/literary devices used by the advertiser in the written part of the ad (eg. alliteration,
parallelism, metaphor, intentional fragments, etc.)
§ the use of the kind of language Lutz calls “weasel words”
§ the relative size, placement, and font of the written text
§ the relationship between images and written text
§ see the handouts/lecture notes on ad analysis (posted on Moodle) for more
suggestions
Additional Instructions:
1) Be sure to include a focused thesis statement that clearly articulates your argument. Your
thesis statement should outline how the ad uses various persuasive strategies/details, including
what Lutz calls “weasel words,” in order to appeal to some of the needs Fowles outlines in his
article.
2) Your introduction should also include the following information: the advertiser, the product
being advertised, the magazine or other source from which you took the ad, the target audience
of the ad, and a brief description/summary of the ad itself.
3) You must discuss both the Fowles and Lutz articles as source material in your essay.
This is a basic requirement of the assignment. You must explain and apply their ideas
when analyzing your chosen ad AND cite these two sources appropriately (using proper
in-text citations AND including a proper Works Cited page) whenever you borrow words
or ideas from these (and any other) sources, or you will not pass this
assignment. Please review all the material posted on Moodle (weeks 2-9) on
integrating quotations, summarizing, paraphrasing, and citing sources according to MLA
guidelines. If you are having trouble, ASK FOR HELP!
4) Remember to use the present tense when writing an analysis essay.
5) You must submit a colour copy of the ad with your essay – all details in the ad must be clearly
visible.
6) All essays must be submitted with an adequate amount of prewriting and must
demonstrate adequate revision from your first draft. When you upload your finished
essay to the assignment portal on Moodle, you MUST also upload copies of your
prewriting (notes, outline, and rough draft).
Format
Essays must be approximately 1250-1500 words (approximately 4 typed, double-spaced pages), written in a 12-
point font such as Times New Roman, with regular margins, indented paragraphs, and no extra spacing between
paragraphs. Please format essays according to MLA standards (consult your Strategies textbook or ask the
instructor).
Essays must be submitted to the assignment portal on Moodle by no later than
Sunday, November 15th at 11 pm. Essay submissions must include ALL of your
prewriting and your rough drafts. Essays submitted without prewriting will NOT
be accepted. Essays lacking sufficient revision from the first to the final draft will
be penalized with a grade deduction. Late essays will receive a 5% per day grade
deduction; late essays will receive a grade but no comments. Essays submitted
more than 7 days late will receive a 0.
Essays must also include a Works Cited page that includes entries for both of the articles to
which you will be referring as well as an entry for the advertisement itself.
Please refer to the MLA template handout provided, the OWL at Purdue website
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ and/or the MLA website
(https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style/What-s-New-in-the-Eighth-Edition AND https://style.mla.org/workscited-a-quick-guide/ OR https://style.mla.org/category/ask-the-mla/ if you are unfamiliar with MLA
documentation, citation, and formatting.
You MUST cite the sources from which YOU took the articles and advertisement. For both articles, the
bibliographical information needed for your Works Cited page is included in the first couple of pages
of the scanned document (the title page of the books from which the articles are taken). If you are
unsure about MLA formatting or documentation/citation, PLEASE ASK THE INSTRUCTOR FOR
HELP well in advance of the essay deadline.