Visual Analysis Essay Assignment For your second major paper, you will utilize your visual literacy by analyzing the following television commercials designed to produce both consumer feeling and action. In our streaming, image-saturated lives, the ability to critically analyze multimodal rhetoric becomes increasingly important as these visuals often affect us subconsciously. It is vital that we are able to assess a visual text for these subtle elements that work to influence us. Youll have the option to choose from the following pairs of television ads OR you can choose your own pair of ads accessible through YouTube. Each pair will give you something different to think about in terms of their connections and differences and, more importantly, how each ad conveys the message and why that message might be effective. You may focus only on the visuals or you may branch out to include some analysis of the audio component (music, voice, etc) of this commercial. Choose ONE of the following pairs as the focus for your essay: 1a) Coca-Cola: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp6UZ_I4zj0 1b) Pepsi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwvAgDCOdU4 2a) Nike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4dDs0T7sM 2b) Gatorade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK6M8BIwrc4 (this commercial loops twice for some reason) 3a) 1950s Marlboro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wibHcZ4FNbU 3b) Recent e-cigarette Blu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQelKE-aBNg 4a) Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE 4b) Old Spice: Terry Crews Muscle Music Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9iKC7vb-Ts 5a) Dior Poison Girl: The New Fragrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re4icu2NXO8 5b) Dior Addict Fragrance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe6kdmP6Awg Drawing on elements of visual communication, consider how these commercials work and compare and contrast them. Consider that nothing in these commercials is random: decisions were made to craft a persuasive message aimed at a specific audience. Reverse- engineer this rhetoric to analyze who you think that audience is, what elements might grab their attention, and why this might be effective. For instance, you might analyze why one commercial uses a famous sports stars while the other commercial opts to use non-famous actors to portray an every person for the audience to 2 connect with. How does that define the target audience for each commercial? What impact would that have on the audience? Why do you think that would impact them? Your essay will include: ? An introductory paragraph where you address the general aspect of the commercials and contextualize what the tension is between them. This is a good place to talk about the target audiences. ? A thesis that establishes your opinion on the different rhetorical purposes of the two commercials and how effective you think they were in achieving their purposes. Note: this is not simply that a commercial is trying to sell shoes, but rather consider how the commercial subverts a social/political movement to its cause or uses rhetoric in a psychological manner to reach its audience (such as the windows and mirrors strategy of advertising). ? Supporting paragraphs that choose specifics of the ad to highlight, in order to analyze in concrete detail for rhetorical persuasion. ? As support and illustration for your prose, include at least 1 image (screen capture) in your essay. Crop the image appropriately (I dont need to see your desktop). Size and placement on the page is up to your decision as a writer and creator. ? Supporting paragraphs should relate to your thesis and organize your response for your reader. ? Support your judgments with reasons and concrete evidence or examples. ? A conclusion that leaves the reader with a clear and fresh understanding of the points you have made. ? It must be a final draft that has been edited. Obvious rough drafts automatically lose 10 points for style. 1000-1200 words in APA or MLA format
