English 110C                                                                                             Kelly Bradbury

Production and Consumption of Advertising

• Talk to students about how to analyze advertisements using the rhetorical method.
• Read 2-3 articles discussing advertising techniques and rhetorical strategies and the consequences of the messages advertising sends and the stereotypes it perpetuates.
• Critique a variety of ads as a class:
• What argument(s) is the ad making?
• Who is the target audience?
• What rhetorical strategies are being used to persuade the audience?
• How effective are the rhetorical strategies being used?
• Teach students Photoshop.
• Students (in groups of 3) create their own ad (or ads) in Photoshop.
• Students (in groups) compose a rationale (2-3 pages?) explaining their choices in the creation of the ad—their argument, their target audience, and the rhetorical strategies they used to persuade their audience.
• Students present their ads to the class and discuss their rationale.
• Students write individual reflections about what they learned about producing and consuming advertising (3-4 pages?).

Possible Readings:

Jean Kilbourne article

Susan Bordo articles

Mark Crispin Miller article

Any articles in Wendy and Brenda’s book Rhetorical Visions addressing advertising