ssignment:

For your first essay, I ask that you write analysis of an advertisement of your choosing. For your analysis to be successful, your essay should include the following:

• A brief summary of the ad, paying particular attention to the details you feel are important to your overall thesis. Your summary should not overwhelm your essay, but the reader should be able to understand or visualize the ad without seeing it.
• An exploration of the techniques of persuasion that the ad employs in order to make the product more appealing. Is the ad intended to create sense of comfort? Anxiety? Does it use sexual elements? Does it attempt to create a cool image? Does it try to make the audience feel smart or dumb? Does the ad call attention to the product or distract from it? Is the message of the ad subtle or overt? Are the advertisers being ironic?
• A sense of audience. In other words, for whom is the advertisement intended? (You are not limited to choosing an ad that you feel is geared toward you. You may choose to further develop the topic you wrote about for the "check your feed" assignment.)
• An overall thesis. Your purpose can be to point out the subtleties of an ad that someone not paying close attention might miss, or you can argue that an ad does not understand the audience for whom it is intended. Whatever thesis you choose, you will be graded on the level of thought that goes into supporting it and on whether or not you effectively communicate your point.
• A works cited page that states where you found the advertisement.