For this essay, you must look at a print advertisement and write an essay which explains the ad’s target audience, the appeal it uses, and how effective the ad is. To pick an ad, go to https://www.creativebloq.com/inspiration/print-ads-1233780 and select one of what CreativeBloq has classified as the top print ads of 2019. You will write an essay which describes AND evaluates the advertisement.
Your essay must contain the following elements:
Paragraph 1: An introduction paragraph which includes a clear thesis statement
Use an established technique for crafting your introduction
Inverted-triangle Introduction
Narrative Introduction
Interrogative Introduction
Pardoxical Introduction
Minding the Gap Introduction
Be sure your thesis lays out the full scope of your essay.
You may use the following template for your thesis, but you are also welcome to come up with working of your own:
SAMPLE: The _____________ ad explicitly sells _______________, but it implicitly sells ____________ to _________________.
Be prepared to prove your thesis with specific details from the ad.
Paragraph 2: A brief description of the ad: This should be an objective account of the ad’s features so that an audience can visualize the ad for themselves. You should describe the following:
How it looks
Who or what the ad features (celebrities, items, etc)
What colors are used in the ad
What artistic techniques are used in the ad.
Don’t analyze the ad at this point; just describe it.
Paragraph 3: Discussion of the target audience: At whom is this ad targeted? Be specific; do not say at everyone or all men. By looking at the ad, how can you tell to whom they are selling their product or idea.
Consider the sex, age, race, class, education, martical status, etc.
You may want to consider where the ad originally appeared if creativebloq gave that information. You don’t need to look it up otherwise.
Paragraph 4: Explanation of the explicit and implicit sales targets.
What values, attitudes, and/or beliefs does the ad perpetuate?
What does the ad tell us about modern culture?
What “hidden ideas” may be in the ad that are easily overlooked?
Example: The Marlboro cigarette ad explicitly sells cigarettes, but it implicitly sells strength and traditional ideas of masculinity to American males.
Your essay would then need to show how the ad works implicitly to make an audience think of strength and traditional concepts of masculinity.
Paragraph 5: Conclusion paragraph
This is a good place to summarize your overall findings and restate (not repeat) your thesis.
A call to action or overall approval or disapproval of the ad might go here as well.
Please state the thesis statement in bold letters.