Checklist for Analyzing Print Advertisements There is a distinction between commercials

Checklist for Analyzing Print Advertisements
There is a distinction between commercials, which are broadcast on television, radio, and other electronic media, and advertisements, which are found in various print media, such as magazines, newspapers, billboards and posters. (On the Internet, the many static advertisements are, I would suggest, best seen as electronically disseminated print advertisements.) The following checklist focuses on print advertisements; Chapter 6 provides a checklist for analyzing television commercials.

The Mood

What is the general audience of the advertisement-the mood that is created, the feelings it stimulates?

The Design

What is the basic design of the advertisement? Does it use axial balance, or are the fundamental units arranged in an asymmetrical manner?
What relationship exists between the pictorial aspects of the advertisement and the copy, or written material?
How is spatiality used in the advertisement? Is there lots of white (blank) space, or is the advertisement crowded—full of written and graphic material?
Is there a photograph used in the advertisement? If so, what kind of shot is it? What angle is it taken from? What is the lighting like? How is color used?

The Context and Content
6. If there are figures in the
advertisement (people, animals), what are they like? Consider factors (to the extent that you can) such as facial expressions, hairstyles and hair color, body shape and body language, clothes, age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, occupation, relationships, and so on.

What does the background of the figures suggest? Where is the action taking place, and how does the background relate to this action?

What is going on in the advertisement, and what significance does this action have? Assuming the ad represents part of a narrative, what can we conclude about what has led to this particular moment in time? That is, what is the plot

Signs and Symbols

9. What symbols and signs appear in the advertisement? What role do they play in stimulating positive feelings about or desire for the product or service being advertised?

Language and Typefaces

How is language used in the advertisement? What linguistic devices provide information or generate some hoped for emotional response? Does the ad use metaphor? Metonomy? Repetition? Alliteration? Comparsion & contrast? Sexual innuendo? Definitions?

11. What typefaces are used, and what messages do these typefaces convey?

Themes
12. What are the basic themes in the advertisement? What is the advertisement about? (for example, the plot may involve a man and a woman drinking, and the theme may be jealousy)

What product or service is being advertised? What role does it play in American society and culture?

What political, economic, social, and cultural attitudes are reflected in the advertisement—such as alienation, sexism, conformity, anxiety, stereotyped thinking, generational conflict, obsession, elitism, loneliness, and so on?

14. What information do you need to make sense of the advertisement? Does it allude to certain beliefs? Is it a reflection of a certain lifestyle? Does it assume information and knowledge on the part of a person looking at the advertisement?

Analyze three advertisements and do the following:

1. Look up any words whose meanings you do not know and create a list of new words with their definitions. (minimum of six words ( ___points)

2. Identify at least three advertising techniques that are used in each advertisement and explain how each of them is used. ( ___points)

3. Identify the target audience for each advertisement and explain why you think the advertisement is meant for that group of potential customers. ( ___points)

What is the purpose of the advertisement? What does the advertiser hope to achieve? Is this explicit?
Who is the anticipated audience?
Who are the imagined users of the product advertised?
Who is the assumed authority on the product?
What choices do you think would have been made about the design of the advertisement and about what to put in and what to leave out?
What are some of the explicit values and attitudes assumed to be shared by the readers/viewers?
What are some of the more implicit or taken-for-granted points of consensus, eg in relation to class, gender or generation?
What continuities and discontinuities are there across the range of advertisements?

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What is advertising?

The word advertising means drawing attention to something or notifying or informing somebody about something.

Why do people advertise?

To sell or promote something.

What is the value of advertising?

It introduces a wide range of consumer goods to you therefore gives you greater choice.
Stimulates a free market economy and creates employment opportunities.
Keeps you informed of the latest products available.

Criticisms of advertising:

It creates false needs.
Exploits our emotions by suggesting acquisition is the only way to happiness and success.
Stimulates materialism and greed.
Can manipulate social values and attitudes.

Who ultimately benefits from advertising - you or a few powerful commodity manufacturers and business corporations?

The poem, Attack on the Ad-Man by A.S.J. Tessimond makes a
strong case against advertising. He makes advertisers out to be fickle,
cunning and prepared to compromise the truth. Read the first stanza of the poem.

This trumpeter of nothingness, employed
To keep our reason dull and null and void.
This man of wind and froth and flux will sell
The wares of any who reward him well.
Praising whatever he is paid to praise.
He hunts for ever-newer, smarter ways
To make the gilt seem gold; the shoddy, silk:
To cheat us legally: to bluff and bilk
By methods which no jury can prevent
Because the law's not broken, only bent.

Do you agree with this criticism of advertisers? Lines from the rest of the poem will be used in other sections of this lesson. Look out for them.

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NOTE: the original for this document no longer exists and
the VIEW ADVERTISEMENT examples do not work.

The advertisers' assumption that a particular picture conveys a particular message suggests that looking and observing is not a passive activity. As readers, we use our knowledge gained from previous experience and learning to interpret a picture.

Certain pictures will immediately arouse certain ideas and associations in our minds. For example, when we see a man or woman in an advertisement dressed in a formal suit, standing upright, with arms folded looking serious, we think of authority, education and success.

Advertisers use characters that conform to stereotypes (as in the above example) because they are easily recognised by us, the readers.

The Kalm's advertisement makes use of a woman dressed in a suit and formal shoes. The message is that professionals or busy people in stressful jobs should make use of Kalm's to bring relief.

The it'si phone ad makes use of a stereotype. It exploits the need for teenagers to be part of the crowd, to be in, to be part of the latest craze.

The background to a picture also conveys meaning. It may suggest a certain lifestyle or give a specific impression; in other words, it gives an advert its context, a time and place. The Pergo ad uses the chess set to help promote its flooring. The overall picture suggests style, sophistication and class.

Remember the meaning the picture conveys, ie the interpretation it arouses in your mind, should ultimately promote sales of the product.

Activity

Analyse the next advertisement and determine how the picture serves as a main selling point.

The advertiser uses a young woman in the advertisement. How does it affect your impression of the product?

Describe her appearance: hairstyle, outfit and make-up, and explain how this contributes to the advertiser's message.

What is implied by her manner: her pose and facial expression?

Advertisers are using this particular woman to sell the car for a reason. What does the image she projects tell you about the product?

"So she bought herself a racy little number." Explain the pun. (play on words)