last updated 10/8/2013
What Ads Reveal
- Who the advertiser is (usually it's obvious or in a tag)
-- (but sometimes it is not clear and you should ask why!)
- Who is the intended audience - think about it! These features can
reveal who the ad is targeting.
- Where the ad is placed in the publication, or
website, or programming
- Who is in the ad and how they are treated
- What direct verbal references are there to the intended audience
- Who does the music and other pop culture identifiers
connect with (or is associated with a particular
audience).
- Who appears as the source of the message (who will the audience
identify with)
- What style/ lifestyle is shown (the lifestyle depicted and who wants it)
Distortions of Social Reality in Ads
U.S. ads are dominated by attractive young women, BUT
- There are more men directly associated with products than women in ads
- Americans disappear from ads as they age
- Ads generally focus on material
possessions and connect personal worth and fulfilling social
needs to materiality
- Ads imply "normality" and, thus, narrow
diversity of social reality
- Stereotypes (a form of schemata) often appear in
ads by ...
- Ethnicity
- GenderOccupation
- Role
- Values
In-class Discussion Assignment for
Thursday/Tuesday
Find an advertisement (commercial, public
service, political, etc.) in a magazine and bring it to class (or view
an ad in another medium and write a description of it in some detail).
Be prepared to discuss:
-
What does the ad reveal (see 1 and 2 above)?
-
What does the ad says about the "nature of
social reality" in our lives?
-
Why you think the ad works to
accomplish its purpose (or does not)?
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