Ad Revision

Assignment Two  Ad Analysis/Revision

We are inundated with advertisements on a daily, even hourly, basis. This assignment encourages you to think critically and creatively about advertising, taking time to reflect on and record your responses to a particular ad. Your work will take shape as an "ad revision," that is, you will alter a print advertisement in a way that makes a viewer stop, examine, and think about your ad in new or innovative ways.

Your process for this will essentially be:
1) Choose an ad that you think does an interesting job of persuasion -- that sells the product in an interesting way that you can say a lot about. Choose an ad that includes both interesting visual elements and a significant amount of written text.
2) Use questions and sample analyses that I will give you as resources for a rhetorical analysis of the ad. Develop an excess of ideas about what you can say regarding the ad's persuasion.
3) Think of another, different product that would be inappropriate to sell using the same basic rhetorical techniques. Revise your chosen ad to sell this new product, thus parodying the rhetorical techniques of the original ad.

Your goal in this assignment is to analyze an advertisement and describe how it works as an argument -- then alter the ad to call into question those argument techniques.

One possible way of doing this is to change the product that the ad is trying to sell. Examples include taking an ad for the iPhone and turning it into this, and taking an ad for safe driving and turning it into this, or taking American Apparel ads and turning them into this.

You can make your new ad refer to the same product -- examples being Winston before and after, Paris Hilton before and after, Botox before and after, and Fur before and after (NSFL) -- but be careful that you are not simply doing the equivalent of drawing a moustache on the pretty model.

To build the analysis you will use the material in your reading and in the homework links to learn how arguments are crafted and how to read them critically and rhetorically, and you'll apply these questions to your ad. Because advertisers spend huge amounts of money analyzing their audiences and refining their rhetorical techniques, it's good to study their work as you attempt to become a better persuader. In fact, Hugh Rank says: "Analyzing ads is the easiest way to learn about all persuasion techniques."

Length: 750 words. Due October 26. Scoring rubric is here.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

The single biggest key to doing well in this assignment is to choose an ad that's doing an interesting job of persuasion. Your main homework for the first day of this assignment is to bring in a selection of several print ads --NOT ads printed off from the internet.

Choose ads that you think do an interesting job of persuasion -- that sell the product in an interesting way that you can say a lot about. Choose ads that include both interesting visual elements and a significant amount of written text AND it is almost always better to choose an ad that has at least one actual human being pictured in it.

You'll need a collection of ads that strike you as interesting or problematic in some way; several 8.5 x 11 sheets of white paper or cardboard to use as a base; glue stick; scissors.

You'll want to make a photocopy of your ad BEFORE you start changing it.

You will NOT be graded on the basis of how visually accomplished your new ad is, but on the basis of your changes making us think in a new way about the original ad.

Schedule

9/28 Complete assignment 1. Homework: Read the Advertising Analysis Notes and Questions. Consult these questions to choose, and bring in Monday, three good, interesting ads from a magazine; DON'T print off an ad from the web. Your ad needs to have a decent amount of written text to analyze, as well as some human beings pictured.

10/5 Advertising and Ethos. Bullet-point list. HOMEWORK:Read Hirschberg and Social Effects of Ads , and do a double-entry journal picking out individual ad techniques that these two authors write about and, in the right-hand column, showing how these techniques apply to your ad when appropriate. If you can't find an example from your ad, write your own original example. Here is a look at what a double-entry journal looks like, based on the beginning of Hirschberg and this sample ad.

10/10 Discussion of Hirschberg and "Social Effects." Error Logs on Ethos Story. Group analyses:US Army, Revolution X, Mercedes Benz, Always, Marlboro 1, 2. HOMEWORK:Read Scholes and "Ways to Get Suckered." Do a double-entry journal for each of them, just like you did with the Hirschberg piece. Here is one of the ads that Scholes discusses, but couldn't get permission to reprint.

10/12 Discussion of Scholes and Roberts-Miller. Intro to Universal Organizer (UNO). HOMEWORK:Read the first 3 1/2 pages of this propaganda handout, and do a double-entry journal describing any propaganda techniques you see in your ad, or writing original examples if you can't find the particular technique in your ad. Read this infographic, this web page and "Social Effects of Ads" and do a double entry journal on them.

10/17 Discussion of propoganda techniques. L'Oreal ads 1, 2. Journal: Headline.HOMEWORK:Read these sample papers, based on these (1, 2, 3) ads and these (1, 2, 3) revisions of them. Assign each of them a grade in writing, according to the rubric, and justify that grade. Read this sample paper, assign it an F, and justify that grade. Make sure you consult the scoring rubric for this paper.

10/19 Discussion of sample papers. Revisions of Ethos Story due. HOMEWORK: Read the Intensify/Downplay overview here and the details here. Make sure you work into your draft whatever important ways your ad intensifies and downplays. Complete a rough draft of your paper for Monday's workshop.

10/24 WORKSHOP. Bring two copies of your paper for your group to read, and bring your ad (both the original and a xerox copy).

10/26 Project due.

	Freshman Composition English 110
	Fall 2016 Syllabus
	Assignment Two  Ad Analysis/Revision We are inundated with advertisements on a daily, even hourly, basis. This assignment encourages you to think critically and creatively about advertising, taking time to reflect on and record your responses to a particular ad. Your work will take shape as an "ad revision," that is, you will alter a print advertisement in a way that makes a viewer stop, examine, and think about your ad in new or innovative ways. Your process for this will essentially be: 1) Choose an ad that you think does an interesting job of persuasion -- that sells the product in an interesting way that you can say a lot about. Choose an ad that includes both interesting visual elements and a significant amount of written text. 2) Use questions and sample analyses that I will give you as resources for a rhetorical analysis of the ad. Develop an excess of ideas about what you can say regarding the ad's persuasion. 3) Think of another, different product that would be inappropriate to sell using the same basic rhetorical techniques. Revise your chosen ad to sell this new product, thus parodying the rhetorical techniques of the original ad. Your goal in this assignment is to analyze an advertisement and describe how it works as an argument -- then alter the ad to call into question those argument techniques. One possible way of doing this is to change the product that the ad is trying to sell. Examples include taking an ad for the iPhone and turning it into this, and taking an ad for safe driving and turning it into this, or taking American Apparel ads and turning them into this. You can make your new ad refer to the same product -- examples being Winston before and after, Paris Hilton before and after, Botox before and after, and Fur before and after (NSFL) -- but be careful that you are not simply doing the equivalent of drawing a moustache on the pretty model. To build the analysis you will use the material in your reading and in the homework links to learn how arguments are crafted and how to read them critically and rhetorically, and you'll apply these questions to your ad. Because advertisers spend huge amounts of money analyzing their audiences and refining their rhetorical techniques, it's good to study their work as you attempt to become a better persuader. In fact, Hugh Rank says: "Analyzing ads is the easiest way to learn about all persuasion techniques." Length: 750 words. Due October 26. Scoring rubric is here. MATERIALS AND METHOD The single biggest key to doing well in this assignment is to choose an ad that's doing an interesting job of persuasion. Your main homework for the first day of this assignment is to bring in a selection of several print ads --NOT ads printed off from the internet. Choose ads that you think do an interesting job of persuasion -- that sell the product in an interesting way that you can say a lot about. Choose ads that include both interesting visual elements and a significant amount of written text AND it is almost always better to choose an ad that has at least one actual human being pictured in it. You'll need a collection of ads that strike you as interesting or problematic in some way; several 8.5 x 11 sheets of white paper or cardboard to use as a base; glue stick; scissors. You'll want to make a photocopy of your ad BEFORE you start changing it. You will NOT be graded on the basis of how visually accomplished your new ad is, but on the basis of your changes making us think in a new way about the original ad. Schedule 9/28 Complete assignment 1. Homework: Read the Advertising Analysis Notes and Questions. Consult these questions to choose, and bring in Monday, three good, interesting ads from a magazine; DON'T print off an ad from the web. Your ad needs to have a decent amount of written text to analyze, as well as some human beings pictured. 10/5 Advertising and Ethos. Bullet-point list. HOMEWORK:Read Hirschberg and Social Effects of Ads , and do a double-entry journal picking out individual ad techniques that these two authors write about and, in the right-hand column, showing how these techniques apply to your ad when appropriate. If you can't find an example from your ad, write your own original example. Here is a look at what a double-entry journal looks like, based on the beginning of Hirschberg and this sample ad. 10/10 Discussion of Hirschberg and "Social Effects." Error Logs on Ethos Story. Group analyses:US Army, Revolution X, Mercedes Benz, Always, Marlboro 1, 2. HOMEWORK:Read Scholes and "Ways to Get Suckered." Do a double-entry journal for each of them, just like you did with the Hirschberg piece. Here is one of the ads that Scholes discusses, but couldn't get permission to reprint. 10/12 Discussion of Scholes and Roberts-Miller. Intro to Universal Organizer (UNO). HOMEWORK:Read the first 3 1/2 pages of this propaganda handout, and do a double-entry journal describing any propaganda techniques you see in your ad, or writing original examples if you can't find the particular technique in your ad. Read this infographic, this web page and "Social Effects of Ads" and do a double entry journal on them. 10/17 Discussion of propoganda techniques. L'Oreal ads 1, 2. Journal: Headline.HOMEWORK:Read these sample papers, based on these (1, 2, 3) ads and these (1, 2, 3) revisions of them. Assign each of them a grade in writing, according to the rubric, and justify that grade. Read this sample paper, assign it an F, and justify that grade. Make sure you consult the scoring rubric for this paper. 10/19 Discussion of sample papers. Revisions of Ethos Story due. HOMEWORK: Read the Intensify/Downplay overview here and the details here. Make sure you work into your draft whatever important ways your ad intensifies and downplays. Complete a rough draft of your paper for Monday's workshop. 10/24 WORKSHOP. Bring two copies of your paper for your group to read, and bring your ad (both the original and a xerox copy). 10/26 Project due.