1. to demonstrate an understanding of the class readings and their approaches to the analysis of ads;
2. to demonstrate an ability to apply ideas and theoretical models from the class to your own analysis;
3. to practice close textual analysis of advertising as social communication.
Short Paper #1: Semiotics; 10%; 3 pages; upload to Canvas
A note on choosing an ad: 50% of this essay is getting a good example. Avoid irony and ironic ads. Never choose an ad because you like it or it’s funny or clever. Avoid clever at all costs. Avoid fashion ads and avoid ads that aspire to high art. Superbowl commercials usually don’t make the best examples for this project. Find an earnest attempt to give a mundane product meaning and look for ads that are rich, complex and nuanced in their formal qualities, look for interesting form, not interesting content. Basic celebrity ads or celebrity pitches will usually not give you enough to work with. Most of the work is done within the celebrity’s career so the ad has to do little more than present two things: celebrity and product. Goldman does perfume ads so find something else.
Print vs. video: Print ads are easier to analyze but may not give you enough to discuss. Video ads are richer, involving editing and linear narrative, but that adds more complexity to your analysis.
Do not describe the ad you write on; simply include/link it in your paper for us to see. The process of writing this paper should lead the writer to look deeply into an ad and by extension, come to a better understanding of advertising as a social and discursive practice. Thus, you are to offer a brief 3 page analysis of an ad of your own choosing. You may write on a print or video ad but you must include the ad or provide a link.
This analysis should demonstrate an understanding of the Marx and/or Williamson and/or Goldman readings and apply some of their ideas and concerns to your own analysis. Your task is to demonstrate that you have done the readings carefully, that you understand (or are attempting to understand) the authors’ central arguments and major points, and, most importantly, that you can apply those ideas and critical approaches to your own analysis of an ad. These short essays should be in formal prose and include a bibliography or works cited page.
You are not required to do outside research. Your best strategy is to follow Williamson’s and/or Goldman’s examples; you are required draw upon their ideas and approaches to the analysis of advertising. Williamson, for instance, offer dozens of examples of advertising analysis and Goldman has an extensive discussion of the logic of perfume ads. Both authors demonstrate how to apply their ideas to writing about ads. You should probably avoid perfume ads, though.
The following brief questions should be used as a guide. You are not required to answer or address all of the following question but make sure you incorporate some of the keywords into your writing, demonstrating that you understand these terms by applying them to a sophisticated analysis of representation in advertising. It would not be possible to incorporate all of the terms below; it is up to you to decide what terms and issues are most relevant to the ad you choose. Do not describe the ad; provide insightful analysis.
• Define the product as a commodity; interpret the product as a commodity form.
• What role does this ad play in the process of exchange? How does it create a structure or nexus for symbolic exchange?
• How does the ad rely on abstraction and equivalence?
• How does the ad reproduce commodity fetishism and/or reification?
• How does the ad reproduce social relations among things and material relations among people?
• What are the symbolic properties of the product? How are these properties constituted by the ad?
• What is the logic or framework or formal structure of the ad?
• What is the ideological function of this ad?
• How do signs, signifiers and signifieds work in the ad?
• What is the referent(s) of the ad?
• How is the product differentiated?
• Discuss the ad as it creates any of the following:
o Objective correlative
o Product as signified
o Product as signifier
o Product a generator
o Product as currency
• How does the ad position, address or appellate (interpellate) the subject?
• How might the ad generate pseudo-individuality?
• How are sign-values produced by the ad? What sign-values are produced in the ad?
• How is meaning transferred?
o Describe the process of translation
o How can meaning act as a kind of currency?
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Critical-Essay (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
General Requirements
1. Some ground rules when writing on advertising:
• When analyzing advertising do not use the words “reality” or “real.” Realism is okay.
• Never write about the effects of advertising on its viewers or audience; remember this is about social communication, not individual psychology.
o Thus analyze “what can be seen in advertisements.” (Williamson)
• This may be about social communication, but avoid that vague word “society.” Be specific about what social structures and what social institutions are relevant to your analysis: patriarchy, traditional cultures, the advertising industry, advertisers, etc. Don’t say: “society limits roles for women.” Do say, “these advertisements represent women in traditional, patriarchal roles as wife and homemaker.” Don’t say: “Society encourages us all to be consumers.” Do say: “Advertising addresses us as consumers, rarely citizens.
• Avoid all metaphors of reflection; use metaphors of representation.
2. Draw upon the ideas and methods of relevant course readings/lectures incorporating them into your own analysis. Your primary research is watching TV/youtube, reading magazines and scouring the internet for relevant advertisements. While outside research is not required, it is encouraged. Avoid marketing trade journals. It is appropriate and expected that you borrow ideas so long as you cite your sources. Find the APA handbook online or use any other style guide for proper format of references. Underline or italicize titles of books, advertisements, TV shows, journals or magazines, put individual episodes or article titles in quotation marks. Plagiarism shows a lack of integrity, is dishonest, and is poor scholarship. The minimum penalty for plagiarism is an F on the assignment.
Academic sources can be found on the Internet – start with google scholar. Wikipedia is a great tool and a good starting point but it is not an appropriate source for academic papers. Other kinds of Internet sources should only be used as examples of your arguments; approach them critically. Avoid citing journalistic or personal opinions unless they are evidence of an argument about reception. Marketing or advertising trade journals can be a great source can give you insight into strategies, target audiences and how advertisers understand those audiences. But be aware that advertisers will make exaggerated claims about the effectiveness of their campaigns. Marketing journals offer insight into how advertisers see and understand their audiences, they tell us nothing about the actual audience. Treat this information as you do the ads themselves, with a critical attitude.
3. Be sure your introduction clearly sets out your thesis or main argument. Make sure your introduction contains a precise, concise thesis statement. Be sure to signal to the reader exactly what you propose to argue in the main body of your paper.
In the introduction you should use only two or three sentences to describe the set of ads you are working with. Here an example of a brief description of a set of ads that might be relevant in Module 2:
“This paper will study seven advertisements taken from 3 mainstream woman’s magazines: Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Elle. These ads are for a wide range of products that pertain to body care: fashion, fitness, make-up, health spas, food, hair, skin care and diet services. Despite their obvious differences in the products advertised, they all employ a similar strategy. They all represent women’s empowerment at the workplace or within male/female relationships and suggest that the purchase of their products can serve as a catalyst for that empowerment.” [Notice how this moves from description directly into an argument.]
Your thesis should be an argument, not an observation:
To signify feminism, these ads all assemble signs that connote sexual independence, participation in the work force, individual freedom and self-control. All these ads offer the means by which women, through the selection and purchase of appropriate goods, can negotiate the difficult contradiction between validation through will-power and self-discipline and the achievement of individual freedom and social equality. These ads are part of a consistently contradictory message in advertising aimed at modern women: that self-discipline equals freedom and that self-denial creates equality. This contradiction has its basis in a reframing of feminism as individuated self-empowerment so that the political logic of feminism can be reworked to fit in with the individualized logic of commodity relations.
[A thesis should establish important arguments and make claims as to the significance of your findings. Notice how an observation quickly moves to analysis and then to substantial argument.]
Following paragraphs should offer fully developed arguments that support your main thesis. Most paragraphs should be at least 4 or 5 sentences long or about half a page. Conclude with a summary of your arguments and a restatement, in different words, of your thesis. I hate writing conclusions too but it must be done. Rewrite your introduction after you finish the paper.
4. You will not be judged on your opinions, but on your arguments. Begin with insights and arguments and support those with observations and conclusions. Take a stand; challenge yourself and your readers toward new insights and ideas. A string of observations does not constitute an academic paper. Description should always be in the service of analysis. Only describe elements, images, layout, narrative structure, etc. when you need to support an argument. In order of importance: 1) arguments, 2) analysis, 3) observation.
5. Avoid informal language: “basically,” “I mean,” and vague terms: “society,” “the media,” “the viewers,” etc.
6. Be careful with first person pronouns; focus attention on your arguments about advertising or issues and ads in question, not on yourself or your process of writing this assignment. As long as you don’t write about yourself or the process of writing, 1st person is okay. To say “I will argue that…” is to call attention to your argument, rather than yourself. To say “I watched six ads and I noticed how products were always shown…” draws attention to you, not the ads or their structure and strategies.
7. Demonstrate all the effort, thought and care that went into writing your paper with a good looking presentation. Download a A pre-formatted document in APA (or MLA or Chicago if your TA approves) and work from there. If you don’t know how to create a footnote or put automatic page numbers in the margins, learn it now! Don’t you dare graduate without good word processing skills – you’ll be a very unhappy worker on your first day on the job.
8. Most important: take pride in your ideas and express them in the clearest, most convincing way you can.
Email me or with any questions jody.baker@sfu.ca
Rubric
Short papers
Short papers
Criteria Ratings Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeRelevance: Advertisement and analysis are relevant to module issues, problems and concerns 3.0 pts
Advertisement is particularly relevant to your analysis. Analysis is particularly relevant to Module and reading. 2.5 pts
A good fit with course material. Effectively makes connections between ad and course content. 2.0 pts
Ad is a good example of the issues of the module or reading but analysis does not bring this out clearly. 1.5 pts
Relevance to Module, reading or course is unclear.
3.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeKnowledge/Analysis: Demonstrated understanding of the lecture and or reading 4.0 pts
Gets to fundamental issues in the module or reading. Applies course material in a really thoughtful or original manner. 3.5 pts
Good, solid application of theme(s) from module. Clearly uses one or more concepts from lectures and/or readings and uses them well. 3.0 pts
Engages with themes from the course but does not fully or correctly apply them. Clearly uses course material but incorrectly or in a cursory fashion. 2.5 pts
It may be about advertising, but response does not show any significant engagement with course material.
4.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomePresentation/Style Quality of writing, clarity of thought and expression. Overall structure. 3.0 pts
Easy and enjoyable to read. Really well written. Good introduction and overall structure makes paper easy to follow and understand 2.5 pts
Paper is readable, concise, and clear, but could be improved with a few minor changes. 2.0 pts
A few grammatical errors. Awkward or unclear sentence structure. Organization okay but doesn’t quite pull it all together. 1.5 pts
Not appropriate for college level writing; missing something important; Structure unclear. Needs proofreading.
3.0 pts
Total Points: 10.0
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