Reference no: EM132579490 , Length: word count:600

The Context

Advertising is never simply the creation of images to sell products. It is, in effect, a form of behavior modification, a psychological strategy designed not only to inform you about products but also to persuade you to buy them by making associations between the product and certain pleasurable experiences or emotions that may have nothing to do with the product at all-like sex, or a promise of social superiority, or a simple laugh. If popular culture involves analyzing how and why we pleasure ourselves, then the idea of desire (of wanting things, people, a lifestyle, and a belief system) is an important concept-so much so that desire is used to sell almost everything. However, desire is tricky business: as soon as your desire for something is fulfilled, it clearly creates a new space for more desire.

The Assignment

Question 1. Choose an advertisement (video or print) for a particular product/company. The ad must be available online and it should be from no earlier than the year 2000. Please ask me if you are not sure if your ad is acceptable.

Question 2. Write a semiotic analysis, in essay format, of your chosen ad. A copy of the ad or link to it must be submitted with your assignment (if not, then it will not be marked).

Question 3. No research or secondary sources are required for this assignment.

Treat your analysis as a short essay. Have an effective introduction, thesis statement, and blueprint of points to follow. Have central paragraphs with supporting points to outline your response to the contents of the ad. Close your analysis with a concluding paragraph. Your essay should follow proper format, tone, and style reflective of college level academic writing.

Some things to consider when analyzing an advertisement:

Remember, you don't have to look for everything on this list, but you must have a clear thesis statement-a precise and specific argument on your topic. A thesis is not a statement of fact or a personal opinion on its own. You must make a precise claim. That is, you must create an argument about what the ad means and prove your argument with specific references to the ad itself. The following questions can help foster an awareness of this process. You may be surprised by the messages and meanings you uncover.

Q1. What is the general ambience of the advertisement? What mood does it create? How does it do this?

Q2. What is the design of the advertisement? How are the basic components or elements arranged?

Q3. What is the relationship between pictorial elements and written material and what does this tell us?

Q4. What is the use of space in the advertisement? Is there a lot of "white space" or is it full of graphic and written elements?

Q5. What signs and symbols do we find? What role do they play in the ad's impact?

Q6. If there are figures (men, women, children, animals) what are they like? What can be said about their facial expressions, poses, hairstyle, age, sex, hair color, ethnicity, education, occupation, relationships (of one to the other)?

Q7. What does the background tell us? Where is the advertisement taking place and what significance does this background have?

Q8. What action is taking place in the advertisement and what significance does it have? (This might be described as the ad's "plot.")

Q9. What theme or themes do we find in the advertisement? What is it about? (The plot of an advertisement may involve a man and a woman drinking but the theme might be jealousy, faithlessness, ambition, passion, etc.)

Q10. What about the language used? Does it essentially provide information or does it try to generate some kind of emotional response? Or both? What techniques are used by the copywriter: humor, alliteration, comparisons, sexual innuendo, and so on?

Q11. What typefaces are used and what impressions do they convey?

Q12. What is the item being advertised and what role does it play in culture and society?

Q13. What about aesthetic decisions? If the advertisement is a photograph, what kind of a shot is it? What significance do long shots, medium shots, close-up shots have? What about the lighting, use of colour, angle of the shot?

Q14. How are sounds and music used in the ad? What is their effect?

Q15. What sociological, political, economic or cultural attitudes are indirectly reflected in the advertisement? An advertisement may be about a pair of blue jeans, but it might, indirectly, reflect such matters as sexism, alienation, stereotyped thinking, conformism, generational conflict, loneliness, elitism, and so on

Length: 500-600 words (approximately 2 pages, double spaced)