10 Drafting Your Ad Analysis
Now that you have a solid outline, it’s time to start writing your ad analysis paper! Here we will work through fleshing out each part of your outline–turning your outline into a full draft.
Introduction
The first part of your paper is your introduction. You may remember from the Writing Formula chapter that an introduction consists of three main parts: the hook, the introduction to the topic, and the thesis. Let’s begin with the hook. A hook does two jobs–it connects the topic of your paper to your readers, and it attempts to capture their attention.
Let’s continue with the Coca-Cola ad we discussed earlier. Think about the kind of hook that would be most useful for your ad analysis essay.
Strategy 1: Connect to the topic of the ad: Coke. You could say something like, “Do you drink Coca-Cola?” It can be a great idea to begin an essay with a question to get the attention of your audience, but…would that really draw in readers? Surely, there is a better way to grab the attention of your audience.
Strategy 2: Connect to the broader topic of advertising. Here, you might say something like, “Advertisers are always trying to grab the attention of the audience.” Sure, this is a broad opening to the paper, but is it really going to make anyone interested in the topic?
Strategy 3. It is a good idea to brainstorm some current events or topics that link to your ad. With the “Share a Coke” ad, you might think of quenching thirst, sharing, good times, and unity. For example, a strong hook might be: “In a world that seems so divided, it is great to see an advertisement that promotes social unity.” Choose something that appeals to you, connects to your audience, and illustrates a theme that runs through the ad.
After the hook, introduce the topic, letting readers know what the paper will be about. Offer information about the product.
Finally, the last sentence of your introduction is your thesis. Here you make your argument. While you already wrote a thesis for your outline, you want to double check that the thesis connects in some way to your hook. Our example thesis is: “The ‘Share a Coke’ ad successfully persuades the audience to buy the product by creating an emotional connection through unity, demonstrating credibility with a recognizable name brand, and offering facts about the product.” Remember that your thesis statement must include the subject, the claim you are making in the essay, and three supporting points. In this example, the subject of the thesis (and your essay) is the ad for Coca–Cola. The claim is that the ad successfully persuades the audience to buy the product. This is followed by three supporting points that connect to pathos (emotion), ethos (credibility) and logos (facts).
Context
The context of an ad really focuses on the audience of the ad. Remember that advertisers very carefully consider the audience for their product and create their advertisements to best reach that target audience. So, if an advertiser goes to this much trouble to determine the demographics of their target audience, it’s obviously important! The ad (unless perhaps it was published by an inexperienced advertiser) is not “for everyone.” An ad in Newsweek, no matter how childlike it appears, was not created for children. It was created for the audience who will purchase and read this magazine. When we do an ad analysis, we want to share similar information with our readers. What magazine is the ad placed in? What is the general focus of that publication? What kinds of articles appear in the publication? What general types of ads does the magazine seem to promote? Is the placement of the ad within the magazine significant, for example, is it on the front or back cover? In short, who is the audience? Of course, you can look at a magazine and get some of this information. You can also do a quick online search for the demographics of the magazine or for their media kit, which is what advertisers look at prior to purchasing advertising space to ensure the magazine is a good fit for their ad.
Description
Remember that your audience cannot see the ad you are discussing. If you were in a room presenting to your audience, you might project an image of the ad up on a screen. Since we can’t do that in an essay, we need to describe the ad for our readers. Essentially, you want your readers to be able to draw a basic picture of your ad–or at least visualize it accurately in their minds.
Here are some good tips for writing a description of an image:
- Start by giving readers a one sentence overview of the ad.
- Determine in advance how you want readers to see the image–do you want them to look at the image left to right? Foreground to background? Clockwise? Bottom line here–don’t make readers minds jump around from place to place as they try to visualize the image.
- Vividly describe the key elements of the ad, including colors, where images are placed, and the background details.
- Don’t forget the text! While you may not need to write every word in the ad in your description, especially if there are lengthy paragraphs, you should include primary wording and a brief overview of the text placement. Remember that factual information (logos) is often found in the small print.
- Write in present tense!
Analysis
Now that you have the background out of the way and your audience thoroughly understands the topic, it’s time to begin your analysis, which is the main body of your essay and your reason for writing. Your thesis should highlight at least three advertising strategies used in the ad relating to ethos, pathos, and logos. Your paper should include a separate paragraph for each one of those rhetorical strategies.
The topic sentence should for each supporting paragraph should echo the wording of the thesis and clearly introduce the topic. For example, “One way the advertisers promote the concept of sharing and unity is simply in the slogan.” For your next paragraph, you’d want to be sure to include a transition. For example, “Another way” or “In addition to” are both phrases that can be used to show that you are building onto your previous paragraph.
In each of the three supporting paragraphs, you want to give specific examples from the ad to support your point. This could be pointing out particular details about the images in the ad or quoting from the text–or both!
Finally, wrap up your paragraph by connecting to the topic sentence – and main point – of the paragraph.
Conclusion
The conclusion of your paper is essentially a mirror image of your introduction. Think of your paper as an Oreo cookie. The introduction and the conclusion are the cookies that surround the best part–the body of the paper. Like the cookie outsides of the Oreo, the introduction and conclusion should be mirror images of each other.
- Start with re-stating the thesis.
- Reiterate the topic.
- Return to your hook and elaborate.
Unlike an Oreo, the conclusion should not simply copy your introduction word for word in a different order. Try to re-word your sentences in a different way. Elaborate on your hook so that you leave readers with something to think about!
Attributions:
Adapted from “Drafting your Ad Analysis” created by Dr. Karen Palmer. Last edited 5/28/2020. Licensed under CC BY NC.
