A#3

ENGL 10600:
Project #3 Prompt:  Advertisement Analysis

This unit asks you to analyze the advertising industry’s portrayal of the social construction of gender.  For your unit #3 paper, you will select and analyze, as a print advertisements, which is currently being run in a reputable magazine during a national campaign.  Your ad must prominently feature a man and/or woman.  Then you will construct an argument to persuade your audience about the following prompt:  How does your advertisement document gender?  You may consider the following potential issues:

•    Does the American advertising industry help create or reflect American culture?
•    Do advertisements perpetuate gender stereotypes, and if so, how does that affect their viewers?  Should advertisers entirely avoid creating advertisements that show and/or promote negative stereotypes about men and women?
•    Does the industry showcase one gender more than the other, and if so, what does that imbalance cause?
•    Should advertisers be more politically correct, and if so, would that change produce less interesting representations?  Should advertisers be held responsible for their presented images, or should they be absolved from any ethical obligations beyond merely selling their products?
•    Is it unfair to ask an advertising firm to act as anything other than a for-profit business?
•    Is the industry’s influence too powerful to ignore?  Do advertisers send dangerous and/or immoral messages, and if so, what should they potentially do to address or counter any negative influence?

In order to construct a thorough argument about your advertisement’s unrealistic depiction of the male and/or female gender, analyze the following about your advertisement: color, alignment, text, product placement, intended audience, ethics, appeals, magazine, etc.

In your introduction, provide your reader with immediate context by identifying your product’s parent company and your magazine’s title and publication date.  Discuss how those factors may play into your advertisement’s portrayal of gender.

Besides citing your advertisement, include quotations from at least two credible sources to add legitimacy to your argument.  Remember, though, that your own insights should far outweigh your quotations from sources, so don’t rely on research as a crutch.

In your conclusion, provide specific suggestions to improve your advertisement’s depiction of gender.

This paper should be three to four full pages.  Then include a works cited page, listing your advertisement and two required sources.  Adhere to the formatting requirements listed by the Course Policy Statement and MLA; in particular, use Times 12, 1” margins, and a staple.

Before turning in the paper, review the following from Unit #3:  this prompt, the syllabus’s assigned readings and handouts.

–adapted from Writing Communities & Identities, Department of English, Kansas State University