Another part of media literacy is becoming aware of the role and effect of commercial advertising in your life. One aspect of this awareness is learning the media grammar advertisers use. Another aspect is being able to identify underlying subtext messages in advertising. A third aspect is realizing the vast quantity of advertising that each person is exposed to every day thru many different media.
For this assigment, find 3 print ads - from print magazines or newspapers (not online)- and use those ads to answer the questions below. Type your answers. Attach the ads (or photocopies) to the end of the paper. This is an informal paper so you can state your opinions, use "I". Answer the first 3 questions individually for each ad. The last question (#4) requires you to draw conclusions based on all your ads.
Grading will be based on how thoroughly you answer each question, how well you include specifics from your ads, and the thoughtfulness of your answers to the "why" questions. You can include material from the book as well as your own opinions. Length is not the key criteria - thoughtfulness and thoroughness are.
- What is the intention of the advertising (product/brand awareness, build positive emotions, change attitude, reinforce opinions, encourage product purchase)? What about the ads makes you think that?
- What does the ad claim about the product? Look for explicit and implicit claims.
- Which, if any, of the ads triggered strong emotions in you. List those emotions and what in the ads you think was the trigger.
- Which ad do you think was most effective and why?
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