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Looking at advertising
Advertisements are created to persuade people to buy something (e.g. cars, food, clothes etc.) and/or to change their behaviour (e.g. choose a different product, stop smoking etc.)
The following text is a guide to analysing television commercials and print advertisements.
Analysing
television commercials
Looking at the narrative structure
or the story line of the commercial
What happens in the story of the commercial?
How might the actions and events affect the way the viewers feel or their actions?
Who is the story trying to attract - young? old? males? females? (this is called a target audience)
Looking at the dialogue and
the language
What do the characters say to one another?
What are they saying to the viewer?
How does what they say grab our attention?
How does what they say try to persuade us?
What kind of language is used? Look for alliteration, metaphor
and simile.
What mood is the language trying to create? Is it funny, scary,
exaggerated?
Is one thing being compared to another?
Looking at the people ( the actors employed to perform
the roles in a commercial) animals and animated
characters in commercials
Have the actors, animals etc. been chosen to be attractive in
some way to the viewer?
Who would be attracted to them?
How does the choice of actor and the way they appear, interest
and grab the attention of the viewers? Look at the clothes they
wear, the age of the actor, the setting in which the characters
have been placed.
Is the viewer made to feel sympathy for and understand the characters
actions?
How do the characters use their voices, facial expression, body
language to carry a message to the viewer?
Looking at the use of lighting,
color and music and sound effects
How does the lighting
help set the scene? create a mood?
How is music used to grab attention? create a mood?
Is there a jingle used in the commercial? A jingle is a simple tune that the viewer will remember when they see the product.
How does the jingle link the product and the viewer? (e.g easy to remember the product name?)
Who is it trying to attract? young? old? males? females?
What affect does the colour used have on the viewers?
What sounds are used and how do they affect the viewer?
Analysing print
advertisements
What product or service is being
advertised?
Who might be interested in the product or service? Who is it trying to attract? young? old? males? females?
Why is it good for the makers of the product or provider of the service if their advertisements make people buy it?
Looking for the mood of the
advertisement.
What mood is created?
What feelings might the viewer of the ad. have while looking and
reading it?
What might the feelings lead people to do? e.g buy something?
Looking at the design
How are the parts (text, art work, photographs) of the ad arranged? e.g. how are the pictures and printed words linked?
Is there lots of space in the ad or is it crowded?
How is color used?
Is the arrangement and appearance easy for the reader to follow?
If there is photograph in the advertisement, is it a close up
or long shot? What is the lighting like and what affect does it
create?
Image © [2007] Jupiterimages Corporation
Looking at the people and animals
used in advertisements
Have the actors and animals been chosen to be attractive in some
way to the viewer?
Are celebrities and sport stars being used to attract and persuade
the reader?
Who are they trying to attract?
How does the choice of actor and the way they appear, interest and grab the attention of the viewers? Look at the clothes, actors' ages, their body shapes, hairstyles and the way the characters relate to each other.
Is the viewer made to feel sympathy for and understand the characters? How? Why?
How do the characters use their voices, facial expression, body
language to carry a message to the viewer?
Looking at the setting of the
ad. (the place and time)
What does it tell the reader about the characters and about the product?
Looking at the narrative or what is happening in the ad.
If the ad. is telling a story, what story is it telling?
What happened before the ad. took place? What might happen next?
What message is the ad sending?
Looking at the language in
the advertisement
How does the language
used grab the reader's attention?
Is there repeated language? humour? alliteration? metaphor? Are things being compared & contrasted with each other? Is there a catchy phrase or slogan for the product? (e.g 'Drink and drive, Bloody idiot!' and 'Oh! what a feeling'.)
Is there exaggeration (e.g bigger! better! the BEST!)
How is the typeface (print style) used to grab attention and send
a message? (e.g bold, colourful, unusual font to create a mood)
The following site has a webquest lesson plan http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/brooklyn/advertising/
Go here for more links to lesson
plans and ideas about advertising
http://urbandreams.ousd.k12.ca.us/lessonplans/consumerism/lesson_3.html
Go here for online copies of print
ads of today and of the past.
http://www.adflip.com/
If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, R. & Sydenham, S. Looking at advertising
[Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2007)
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