Londie Martin Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition Spring 2008 Place, Nature, and Environment

Unit 2: Assignment #3 Rhetorical Analysis of Advertising and Environment

Important Dates February 18 or February 19 Topic Proposal due at individual student conferences February 28 at least 600 words due in class for peer response March 6 at least 800 words due in class for peer response March 13 final draft (900 1000 words) is due in class Topic Proposal Guidelines Select an advertisement that you are considering for your analysis, keeping in mind that your advertisement must exist in a place (no magazines, no internet). Based on this advertisement, compose a thorough and wellcrafted Topic Proposal Memo in which you answer the following bulleted list of questions. Next, bring a paper copy of your Memo with you to your individual student conference. Remember that missing your conference or arriving unpreparedwill result in one absence. What product, service, or idea is your ad selling and what company is sponsoring the ad? What does your ad look like? Write a detailed description that summarizes the content and design of the ad. (If you have a picture of it, you can paste it in your memo or bring it with you to your conference.) Why did you choose this ad? What is it about this ad that grabs your attention? Where does this ad exist? Briefly describe the location or environment in which you found your ad. How is the ads sponsor using rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos) to persuade citizens? What world view seems to be depicted in your particular advertisement? Audience and Purpose In keeping with our class discussions regarding how we interact and relate to the space around us, this assignment asks you to rhetorically analyze an advertisement as it occurs in a specific place or environment. Your audience will be your instructor, your peers, and yourself to some extent. You will be writing a rhetorical analysis in which you analyze the audience, purpose, and context of an advertisement with regard to the location in which it exists. The point of emphasis in this essay will rest mainly in how well you analyze the advertisement's use of rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos), how well you analyze the interaction between the advertisement and its location, and the depth of your insights regarding the persuasiveness of the advertisements world view.

Planning and Prewriting Find an advertisement that exists in a specific place. For example: a billboard on Lincoln Avenue, a poster in the local Wal-Mart, or an advertisement in a dorm or restaurant. Once you've found an advertisement that you are willing to spend some time with, consider the following questions: What product, service, and/or idea is the advertisement selling or promoting? What images and text help the advertisement communicate its purpose? What underlying worldview does the advertisement appear to promote? What are the ethical implications of the advertisement? As you contemplate your advertisement, be sure to note which features draw the viewer's eye. Close attention to design choices can help you determine how the advertisers want consumers to read the advertisement. Look specifically at: color, balance, direction, focal point, text, logos, and any other design elements that are present in the advertisement. Because you will be analyzing an advertisement on location, you will need to consider how the advertisement interacts with its environment and how the environment interacts with the advertisement. Here are some questions that will help you develop this perspective:

Londie Martin Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition Spring 2008 Place, Nature, and Environment
Does the advertisement seem out of place in this location? Why or why not? What do passers-by think of the advertisement? Did they even notice it? (Ask them!) Does the advertisement depict a particular place? How does this compare to the location in which it actually exists? What other advertisements are nearby? How does the rhetorical situation of your advertisement compare to the rhetorical situations of surrounding advertisements?

Important Reminder: Before you leave your location, take a picture of your advertisement so you can

include it in your essay. Your photograph should reveal what you learned during our unit on documentary photography, and it should give your readers a clear view of the advertisements surrounding environment. If you would like to use a digital camera for this activity, and you do not have access to one, talk to the fine folk over at IT Services. Find out more information about checking out digital cameras at:
http://www.it.iastate.edu/checkout/students.html

Drafting After these prewriting activities, you can judiciously decide which types of information you will use to support your claim within your 3-4 page paper (900 1000 words). Be sure to orient your readers by identifying the place in which the advertisement is located: What landmarks are nearby? What time of day did you visit the advertisement? Who did you see while you were contemplating the advertisement? Additionally, be sure to provide your readers with a detailed descriptionin other words, a summaryof the advertisement as well as the place in which it exists. For example, if you found your advertisement in a local diner, be sure to describe what is happening in the advertisement as well as what is happening in the diner. It is of the utmost importance that you remain mindful of the difference between summary and analysis at all stages of this assignment.