Visual Analysis
Identify strategies for making visual arguments.
Learn about rhetorical appeals.
Study and critique a visual advertisement.
Use specific visual details as evidence in analysis.
Instructions
First, identify a video advertisement at least thirty seconds in length that you would like to analyze. The ad should be freely accessible online, whether on YouTube or via some other site, and it can promote a product, service, person, organization, location, or anything else. Here are three examples of ads that would make appropriate choices:
Cheerios Super Bowl Ad
Chevy Sonic Skateboard Ad
Visit Daytona Beach Ad
Study the ad you’ve selected closely, noting the argument it makes, the individual claims that comprise this argument, the visual elements used to support these claims, the ad’s use of rhetorical appeals, and any logical errors you can detect.
Then, write a letter to a competitor of the person/organization/company that produced the ad you’re analyzing. (For example: if you’re analyzing the Chevy Sonic ad above, you might write to Ford or Honda.)
In this letter, explain how the ad works—what message does it send, and what elements in the ad contribute to this message? Frame your explanation as advice to the competitor, commenting on whether and how the competitor might respond to the message the ad is sending.
