Analyzing Advertising
Prompt
Now that you have used some questions to help you analyze a piece of advertisement, we’re now going to take a different approach.
The advertisement below is from the early 1970s. Yes, there are some problems with it (some serious problems with it!). With that said, it is important to know that when this print ad was published, there existed in American society an attitude that such representations of women were perfect okay. There are still some who do not see a problem with this representation today. It is important to know that there were a great many pairs of eyes who had to see this ad AND approve it before it ever made its way to being seen by the public. That says a lot about the culture and attitudes in relation to gender that were prevalent at the time. This was just an extension of Mad Men into the next decade.
Your task is to take on the role of the artist who created this advertisement. You are going to present this to the president of the company who makes the pants (slacks). Keeping in mind the questions that were on page 343 (remember the last discussion?), how might you preemptively address any concerns that someone might have about the image and the text? You want to sell this ad because it is going to make your advertising company money by having the pants company hire your firm. Pay attention to the text at the bottom of the image; the text reinforces the picture. How would you respond to someone who tried to use the list of questions against this advertisement? It should be pretty obvious that you will be playing the devil’s advocate, taking a position that you would never (hopefully) take for yourself. However, we still see ads with a very similar attitude today.
As sexist and misogynistic as this advertisement is, it should be pretty obvious that sexism and misogyny in advertising have not gone away; they are just as present in advertising today, but at least they do not look like this.
Guidelines
Your initial response should be close to 175-200 words in length, reflecting on the prompt above.
The post Analyzing Advertising
Prompt
Now that you have used some questions to help you a appeared first on Skilled Papers.
