Select a full page advertisement from a popular mass audience magazine (e.g., Time, Newsweek, Glamour, Sports Illustrated) and write an approximately 4 page (double-spaced) analysis of the principle signifying practices the advertisement invokes. How does the ad make meaning? What are the in the ad? What are the denotations? the connotations? Does the ad use metaphor? metonymy? What paradigms does the ad invoke and create? Does it use any syntagmatic systems of meaning? What cultural code systems does the ad appeal to? Does it involve myths about things such as power, race, class, gender, respect, or authority? How do the patterns of signification in the ad articulate social codes? Does it address social conflicts, and perhaps suggest "magical" solutions to them?

Don't just provide a laundry list of things you notice about the ad. Use the terminology and principles explained in class and in the reading. Write your analysis in the form of an essay, in a clear and interesting way. There is no one correct way of explaining the systems of meaning-making in the ad; writing a good analysis involves some imagination as well as accuracy. Keep it short, but spend some time working on it. It will be easy to fill up a page or two with random comments about the ad, but difficult to provide comments that are illuminating, precise, and thorough.

A good way to begin your analysis is to try to reconstruct what happens when you first looked at the ad. What did you notice first? Why did it grab your attention? What did it make you think of? Do you notice anything else after looking at the ad for a while? What happened when you read the written copy -- did it, perhaps, change your understanding of the pictures? Once you've done that, you can often identify cultural codes in the ad by using substitution (i.e., "the commutation test"): what would happen if the ad used a model that was the opposite sex? A different race or age? What if the background were different? Answering questions like these helps develop an understanding of the key signifying elements of the ad and the ways that they relate.

Just about any ad will do, but it's a good idea if you select something you find interesting. It's also good to stay away from ads that have lots of detailed information about the product (e.g., herbicide ads for farmers). Ads for well-known and unimportant products are usually the most interesting, such as ads for beer, liquor, cigarettes, beauty items, soft drinks, sports cars, corporate image ads, etc. Feel free to discuss your analysis with others from the class, as long as your ad is different from theirs.

Sample advertising analyses can be found here.

Please email the analysis to me by noon, June 21st, as an attached file in either Microsoft Word or "rtf" format. I must also have a copy of your ad; if you can't scan it and include it with your essay, you can fax it to 802 656-2131 or get it to my mailbox in Sociology at UVM by noon on June 21st.