Ad Analysis Essay Final draft

Rough draft/outline (1 page minimum): 25 points
Final draft (1200-2000 words APA References page): 150 points
Required Sources: 1 print advertisement of your choice
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS:
✓ Do a Google image search to find an ad for a product, service, or social cause.
Examples: “fast food advertisement,” “attorney advertisement,” “water conservation
advertisement,” etc. For this assignment, we will not be analyzing sound, so you can’t
analyze a commercial; it must be a print ad with words. You will be analyzing the
images, font, and word choice.
✓ You do not need to include a picture of your ad in your essay. Your intro paragraph
should identify the product/service or social cause being advertised. The reader should
be able to visualize it through your description. Your description must include:
□ symmetrical, asymmetrical, or radial balance
□ color harmony (color scheme) or discordant colors
✓ In your thesis statement, make a claim as to whether or not the ad is effective. In other
words, does it achieve its purpose of getting the viewer’s attention and influencing them
to purchase the product/service or invest in that social cause?
✓ The body paragraphs of your essay will include two forms of analysis:
□ Rhetorical analysis: Ethos, logos, pathos
Explain how the ad attempts to persuade/influence the viewer by establishing
credibility and appealing to the viewer’s emotions and sense of logic (rhetorical
appeals).
□ Visual analysis of the ad’s composition: emphasis/focal points, visual hierarchy,
design flow (through visual weight and visual movement), and font.
Explain how the ad uses (or fails to use) design principles to get the viewer’s
attention and visually guides them to “read” the image and understand its message.
✓ The APA headings will help you organize your analysis into logical sections.
✓ Your topic sentences should make a claim about the effectiveness of the rhetorical appeal
or design principle being analyzed in that paragraph. The rest of that paragraph should be
specific examples from the ad itself to support your topic sentence.
✓ You must use the specific terminology in the description and analysis portions of your
essay, as it appears on the rubric.
Ad Analysis Essay
AD ANALYSIS ESSAY GRADING RUBRIC
/25 EFFECTIVEORGANIZATION
□ Effective thesis statement
□ one or two well-developed sentences
□ clear and to the point
□ specific—it accurately previews what the essay is about
□ gives an opinion—it isn’t just an observation, summary, or fact—it is debatable
□ Effective topic sentences