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Advertising is good for rhetorical analysis since the purpose of advertising is innately persuasive. When doing rhetorical analysis, there is more than just recognizing that the purpose is in selling something.
For the following exercises:
Identify the Rhetorical Triangle: ethos, pathos, logos.
Identify the Rhetorical Situation: purpose, audience, genre, stance, media/design.
Consider the critical implications of each text. For example, while a specific audience might appreciate a text, how might the same text offend or possibly oppress another audience? Critical thinking answers the “so what?” question; it addresses not just what the text is doing (such as selling a product) but also what a text might mean.
Analyzing Advertising: Images
Dodge
ESPN
Pepsi
Post-It
Tabasco
Analyzing Advertising: Commercials
The following commercials are rather dated—purposely—as it will prompt a close watch on the first view, as they have not been viewed as recently as other, more popular advertising.
Dominoes: Noid Your Call
Microsoft: I’m a PC and I’m 4 and a half, the latest cute Ads from Microsoft
Budget: funny TV commercial
True condoms: condom commercial
Visual Analysis of Websites
The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate the variety of ways visual rhetoric is used when addressing different audiences.
Review the following three websites: The Washington Post, Slate and The Root. The same company owns all three news sources but have very different audiences. For this exercise, compare and contrast the similarities and differences.
Some things to consider when drafting a response:
Who is the target audience for each site? How can you tell?
How does each website meet audience expectations?
How do you see yourself inhabiting multiple audience spaces?
Think about the different websites you read as a way to determine which audiences you belong to. How are they similar? How do they differ?
What do you notice about the way each site looks?
What colors do the site author’s use?
Which site has the most words?
Which one has the most pictures?
How is the layout different for each site? How is it the same?
What content is similar on each site? What content is different?
Do you see differences in the number of stories that are persuasive or informative?
What do you notice about the advertisements on each site? Do the advertisements match a certain target audience?
Adapted: Parrinello-Cason, Michelle. “Assignment: Exploring Audience Expectations.” Something’s Developing: One Bird at a Time. Blogspot. Retrieved, August 2014.
