The Strategies of Advertising Custom Essay

Essay 2: Analysis _

Topic: The Strategies of Advertising Required length: 1250 words minimum (4-6 pages).

Rough Draft Due Date: ___________ Final Draft Due Date: ____________

Background: In your midterm essay, you examined the value of advertising, which has become an almost constant presence in both our public spaces and our private lives. Perhaps because of advertising’s ubiquity, we often dismiss it as simplistic, and we rarely think critically about the complex, subtle strategies ads employ. In this unit, we dig into the hidden mechanics of advertising to examine how it compels its audience to act in the interest of advertisers.

Main Task: Write an essay in which you analyze the strategies used by a single advertisement, or a series of advertisements associated with a single product. By synthesizing the content of the advertising, the assigned readings, and your own interpretations, examine how the product or service successfully appeals to consumers. What strategies described in the assigned readings does your specific advertisement use, and how does it use them? Finally, explore what the advertisement might reveal about its audience, or advertisers’ assumptions about that audience.

Analysis, in academic thinking and writing, broadly refers to examining the individual parts of something in order to figure out what it means or how it works. Often, we use the definition or principles from other outside sources in order to analyze something.

That is, analysis is often a type of synthesis in which you use the ideas of someone else in order to examine whatever you’re trying to understand—be it a work of art, a historical event, economic trends, etc. Here, we’ll refer to the ideas you use as an analytical principle. We’ll refer to the thing you’re analyzing as an object of analysis.

Object of Analysis: Should you choose to do so, your object of analysis can be advertising that exists outside the realms of conventional television or print advertising. Print and television ads will work very well for the essay, but here are some other interesting mediums that contain persuasive advertising: 1) a product’s packaging, 2) its official website, 3) online advertising for a product on other websites, 4) advertising in public spaces, 5) covert advertising or product placement.

Analytical Principle: The analytical principle should be a set of ideas about how advertising appeals to its audience. Your analysis will show how the specific advertisement you are examining uses those strategies. The principle can be drawn from one or more texts. It should be stated explicitly early in the essay, in a bridge paragraph. You should reference these ideas with more specificity throughout the essay using quotes from the text.
• “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals”: Use this text to show how an advertisement appeals to its audience’s unconscious fears or desires.
• “The Parable of the Democracy of Goods”: Use this text to show how an advertisement appeals to class anxiety or its audience’s desire to join the elite by buying a product.
• “Men’s Men and Women’s Women”: Use this text to show how an advertisement appeals to our desires or anxieties associated with gender identities.

Four Quotations or Paraphrases REQUIRED: The success of your argument hinges on its successful synthesis and integration of source material. You must quote or paraphrase, and correctly cite, resources from this unit at least four times in this essay. At least two direct quotes are required. Your quoted or paraphrased sources should include, at minimum, the following: 1) One or more assigned readings; 2) The advertising you’re analyzing.

Essay 2 Goals _¬¬¬¬¬

In each of the major essays you write for English 1A, you will be working to demonstrate the skills we have practiced throughout the corresponding unit. Below are the writing and thinking skills you should be aiming to demonstrate in Essay Two. These goals will also be incorporated into the grading criteria for the essay.

1) Accurately summarize the main ideas of a written text and the main features of a visual text.

2) Synthesize the ideas of published authors with visual texts in order to create and support an arguable thesis.

3) Create a thesis statement that provides a clear, compelling analysis and previews the support for that analysis.

4) Substantiate your thesis using analysis, supporting evidence, and logical organization.

5) Achieve a unified and focused statement with your essay—everything in the essay should work together to support your central claim.

6) Incorporate an introduction that engages the reader and prepares the reader for the thesis.

7) Incorporate well-developed supporting paragraphs using the PIE strategy.

8) Incorporate a conclusion paragraph that explores the significance of your analysis.

9) Write clear and correct sentences while using diction and tone appropriate for the academic community.

10) Use MLA-style in-text citations.

11) Integrate quotations and paraphrases with rhetorical effectiveness.

12) Be original, creative, and thoughtful, demonstrating the critical reading and thinking skills practiced throughout the unit.

13) Successfully communicate an analytical principle and apply it to an object of analysis.

Essay 2 Guide: Organizing Your Analysis¬¬¬¬¬ _

This essay requires analysis. Analysis, in academic thinking and writing, broadly refers to closely examining the individual parts of something in order to figure out what it means or how it works. Often, we use the definition or principles from other outside sources in order to analyze something. That is, analysis is often a type of synthesis in which you use the ideas of someone else in order to examine whatever you’re trying to understand—be it a work of art, a historical event, economic trends, etc.

Here, we’ll refer to the ideas you use as an analytical principle. We’ll refer to the thing you’re analyzing as an object of analysis. Review Chapter 6 in WRAC to further acquaint yourself with analysis. While the primary goal of the arguments you have written has been to persuade, the goal of an analysis is to examine and explain. The tone, organization, and rhetoric of the essay ought to reflect this purpose. Below are the basic pieces of the puzzle. Use this as a guide for how to craft your own argument synthesis as you develop your blocking plan.

Heading & Page Numbers: In the upper-left corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor’s name, the course, and the date. Also, you must number your pages. In MLA style, the writer’s name appears before the page number in the upper-right corner of each page.

Title: Include a title that captures your reader’s attention and previews the subject of your essay. (It should be centered, and the font size and type should be the same as all the other words on the page.)

I. Introduction (1 paragraph, about 150-200 words): As with your previous essays, the primary purpose of the introduction is to engage your reader’s interest and prepare the reader for your thesis statement. In this essay, that might mean accomplishing a couple different things. Convey to your reader that analyzing this ad is a worthwhile project. Why is understanding the strategies of this or any other ad important or useful for the reader? You should also introduce your reader to the advertising you’re analyzing. What is the product? What is the content of the ads? Where do they appear and whom do they target?

II. Bridge (1 paragraph, about 150-200 words): In analysis, it is sometimes useful to add a second paragraph before the thesis that introduces your analytical principle. Prior to your thesis statement, you can summarize the main ideas from the text(s) you will be using to analyze the advertisement. Include the author and title of the text you’re drawing ideas from, and represent those ideas accurately. (You should not summarize aspects of the text irrelevant to your analysis.) A summary here will allow you to easily refer back to its main points throughout the essay. It will also prepare the reader more thoroughly for your thesis and supporting paragraphs. Refer to Chapter 1 of WRAC for summary strategies.

III. Thesis Statement (1-2 sentences, at the end of the bridge): The thesis should be specific and arguable, stating your main point and previewing your evidence in support of that point. It should meet all of the guidelines for successful thesis statements we established in the previous unit. An excellent thesis for this essay will establish a connection, or synthesis, between your analytical principle and the advertisement(s) you are analyzing, answering this question: What strategies described in the texts does the advertising use, and how does it use them?

IV. Proof (3 paragraphs, about 500-750 words): Each paragraph should assert and prove one specific point in support of your thesis statement, and stay focused on that point. Think of each body paragraph as one reason your thesis is true. Ideally, each paragraph will synthesize evidence from both the advertisement and the text to demonstrate your point. P.I.E. paragraphing will be a crucial strategy.

Analysis is about looking very closely at the parts of something in order to make sense of the whole. Especially if you are examining just one advertisement in depth, consider focusing each paragraph on a detailed interpretation of one specific aspect of that ad. In support of a thesis about how an ad appeals to its audience’s gender-role anxieties, for example, one proof paragraph could focus on how the weak male character in the ad contributes to that appeal, incorporating quotes from “Men’s Men” to support the interpretation. Other proof paragraphs could focus on another character, the voice over, the depiction of the product, or perhaps the resolution of the conflict between characters. (If, however, you are analyzing several ads within a campaign, it might make more sense to focus each proof paragraph on a broader interpretation of a single ad.)

VI. Conclusion (1 paragraph, about 200-250 words): Your conclusion may briefly review your main points for the reader. More importantly, it should discuss the significance of your analysis. For this essay, make an inference about what the strategies of this ad reveal about its target audience. Assume that the advertisers have very deliberately designed an ad that will appeal to a particular group of people. What can we infer about the desires, fears, identity, or values of the people who would be drawn to this ad? Explore what the advertisement might reveal about its audience, or advertisers’ assumptions about that audience. (Of course, advertisers may have grossly misjudged their audience. If so, expose their erroneous assumptions here in the conclusion.)