Interpreting Advertising Sociologically

Interpreting Advertising Sociologically Your task is to critique some form of advertising (e.g., TV/radio commercial, billboard, or webpage). Use your sociological imaginations to think deeply and critically about what is going on in your ad. Apply concepts, terms, and ideas used in class readings, lectures, and movies to discuss what is sociological about your ad. You can also apply concepts learned in other sociology classes to interpret your ad. Frequently Asked Question • • Can I analyze more than one ad? Yes. You are permitted to analyze more than one ad, but I strongly suggest analyzing in-depth no more than two ads. You are also free to talk about a company’s advertising in general, or a specific ad campaign done by that company, but this assignment requires you to do in-depth content analysis on at least one, perhaps two, ads. Strive for depth of analysis rather than breadth. If you completed a version of this assignment for another one of my classes (e.g., social problems), you must select a new ad to analyze for this class. Assignment Requirements • • • • • • • • • Include your name, the date, and the class name at the beginning of the paper. A separate title page is not required. Papers must be double-spaced, use 1-inch margins, include page numbers, and use Times New Roman or Arial font. Papers must be 6-7 pages in length NOT including the Bibliography, Title Page, or Ad. Do not manipulate character spacing to try to alter length. Include word count after last paragraph of the paper. Include a copy of the advertisement(s) in your paper at the end of the paper (a hyperlink I can click on to access the ad will also suffice). You can also upload a pdf or jpeg file of your ad to D2L when you upload your paper. Multiple file uploads are permitted. Include a paper title, introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, a Conclusion, and a Bibliography or Works Cited. All submissions must be Microsoft Word documents. Do NOT upload pdf files except if uploading the ad. Late papers will be docked a full grade (i.e., 10 percentage points). Papers should not have spelling or grammatical errors (deductions will be taken for such errors). Discuss at least 5 sociological concepts (e.g., race, gender, gender roles, social construction, stigma, inequality, consumerism, objectification, rape culture, socialization, social roles, racialized society, intersectionality). I recommend you italicize each concept the first time you reference it to underscore its importance and demonstrate to the reader that you are using the language of the course. 1 • • • • • • o You can, of course, use more than 5 concepts. Five is the minimum. Using more concepts generally results in stronger papers receiving higher grades. You must reference (i.e., quote and/or cite within the paper) at least 8 books, book chapters, journal articles, theses, or dissertations. Simply including sources in your Bibliography without citing them in the paper itself does not count; YOU MUST CITE YOUR SOURCES WITHIN THE ACTUAL PAPER. See the list provided at the end of this document for examples of what counts as an academic source. Below are a list of sources that are NOT academic in nature. You can still cite them, but they won’t count as one of the 8 required academic sources. o Websites o Wikipedia (cite if you must, but this is not a good source to cite). o Magazines (e.g., Time, Newsweek) o Online news sources (e.g., Huffington Post, CNN.com) o Encyclopedias o Dictionaries o Webpages of academic scholars or academic departments o Blogs Also, assigned class readings do not count as one of the 8 academic sources. You can cite the textbook, but it won’t count as one of the 8 academic sources. Why? It certainly is academic in nature, but I want you to do original research instead of relying on material already covered in class. Sources in the Suggested Bibliographic Resources doc can be used as academic sources and count towards the 8 required. Papers must conform to one of the citation styles on the Purdue University Writing Lab website. I do not care which of these styles you choose, but you will be graded on whether you apply the style of your choice consistently and correctly. o LIST WHICH STYLE YOU ARE USING AT THE END OF THE PAPER NEXT TO THE WORD COUNT. All direct quotes must use quotation marks and a citation. Ideally, if possible, this citation should include page #s. Consult the academic style of your choice for how to include pg. #s. Cite ALL sources used, including class lectures. o HOW DO I CITE CLASS SLIDES/LECTURES? If the citation style of your choice does not specific how to cite class handouts/power point slides, I suggest you do something like the following. In text parenthetical references = (Mundey Gender Lecture, slide 1). Footnotes/Endnotes references = Peter Mundey, Gender Lecture, Slide 1. Assignment Tips for Success • • • Use major section headings and subheadings to organize your ideas. This is not required, but is a useful and typically results in a higher score on the organization component of the rubric. Watch the Writing Workshop videos. There are two vides on D2L. Make sure you understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Email Prof. Mundey if you want more clarification on this matter. Also consult the writing workshop videos for 2 • • • • • • • • • more information on avoiding plagiarism. BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR PAPER, REVIEW THE SIMILARITY SCORE AND HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGES FLAGGED BY “TURN IT IN.” Make changes to your paper if necessary. Don’t worry about entries flagged in the References/Bibliography. If a passage is highlighted and you have quotation marks and a citation associated with it, you should be fine. Highlighted text with a citation included, but no quotation marks, typically means you are not paraphrasing well enough. Go back and paraphrase more. Do not hit “submit” until you are confident you have properly cited all sources in your paper. Also, make sure you are NOT recycling entire papers or paragraphs and sentences from papers you’ve submitted to other classes. Remember, you are supposed to write an original paper specifically for this class. Be mindful of the course AI policy: “The use Open AI / Chat GPT and other AI based tools and software is prohibited. Unauthorized use of AI will be treated as plagiarism and subject to the same consequences as described in the Student Handbook. AI generated text and images must be properly cited in all submitted work. This course assumes that all work submitted by students will be generated by the students themselves, working individually or in groups. Students should not have another person/entity do the writing of any substantive portion of an assignment for them, which includes hiring a person or a company to write assignments and using artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.”^ Use academic sources to frame your interpretation of your advertisement. Offering original insights is good, but you must engage academic readings to contextualize your analysis. Do not merely offer your own interpretation of the ad. Remember that the best sociological analysis is critical of consumer culture and advertising, at least in part. Think about ways you can offer a critical perspective of your ad and/or culture. Don’t use your sources to simply provide definitions of terms we’ve already defined in class unless the definition you’ve found is significantly different than the one given in class. Include a strong thesis statement at the end of your Introduction (typically the last sentence or the last two sentences of your introductory paragraph). The thesis statement should summarize your paper’s main argument and, ideally, should contain the sociological concepts you will discuss in your paper. For example, “The Axe Body Spray ad I discuss in this paper objectifies women and therefore contributes to gender inequality in society.” Proofread your work and/or have colleagues, friends, or family members proofread your work. Revising paper drafts that have been edited by a skilled reader generally results in higher paper grades. Do not wait to the last minute to start your paper. If you are struggling to find academic sources, I suggest you use JSTOR. I also recommend searching for keywords/terms on the websites of three of the major academic journals in the field of sociology: Social Problems, American Sociological Review, and Social Forces. After locating specific articles you want from the search results, download the actual articles from the library website, which should have access to each of these journals. You may also find some good sources using google scholar and google books. Our Library’s Galileo search engine is also an excellent resource. Consult the Suggested Bibliographic Resources folder on D2L for more tips on how to do 3 • • • good content analysis of advertising. You are allowed to use these sources in your paper. They can count towards the 4 required academic sources. Consult the sample A papers in the Advertising Project folder on D2L to see what excellent papers look like. Review the grading rubric (see D2L) before submitting your paper. Follow the example paper outline below, or organize your paper in a similar manner. Example Paper Outline I. Introduction a. Introduce the ad(s) and the general themes/ideas associated with it you will discuss in your paper. b. Include a strong thesis statement outlining your paper’s main argument. II. Main Body Paragraph(s) #1-2: Ad description1 a. Unpack in detail the content of your ad. b. Give a “play by play” of your ad. c. You may not need 2 paragraphs to describe the ad. One will suffice. III. Main Body Paragraphs # 3-? Ad analysis a. Describe in detail what is sociological about your ad(s). b. Use outside sources from your research to interpret your ads(s). c. Spend more time on these paragraphs than main body paragraphs 1-2. As described on the grading rubric, these paragraphs are worth the most points IV. Conclusion a. Summarize the main takeaways and most important arguments of your paper. b. What does this ad(s) say about American culture/society at a “big picture” level? c. Encouraged but not required: Don’t introduce a lot of new material, but reframe something you’ve argued above in an innovative way, or perhaps with a new twist. Perhaps discuss what your ad says about American consumerism in general, or the American Dream if not discussed in your preceding paragraphs. d. Feel free to use outside academic sources in the conclusion to strengthen your argument. Grading A. Meets all requirements with great precision and understanding of course material. Goes above and beyond, showing creativity and a level of engagement with the material and outside academic resources that demonstrates careful thought and significant effort. B. Meets all or nearly all requirements. Some minor flaws in accuracy and/or some concepts could be developed with greater sophistication, creativity, or use of academic sources. 1 You are also permitted to merge sections II and III if you think that better fits your writing style. 4 C. Most basic requirements met, but some errors and omissions. Does the minimum, but not much more. Demonstrates cursory knowledge and engagement of the topic. D. Significant errors and omissions present throughout. Missing key components of the assignment requirements. F. Major omissions and errors. Shows little effort and/or a significant misunderstanding of the assignment and its required components. Bibliography of Sociological Studies of Advertising Cortese, Anthony J. 2008. Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. New York, NY: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Goffman, Erving. 1979. Gender Advertisements. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Holt, Douglas. 2004. How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Laird, Pamela Walker. 2001. Advertising Progress: American Business and the Rise of Consumer Marketing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Lears, Jackson. 1995. Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising. New York: Basic Books. Marchand, Rowland. Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940. Berkley: University of California Press. Matt, Susan J. 2003. Keeping up with the Jonses: Envy in American Consumer Society, 18901930. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. Mears, Ashley. 2009. “Size zero high-end ethnic: Cultural production and the reproduction of culture in fashion modeling.” Poetics. 38(1):21-46. Millard, Jennifer. 2009. “Performing Beauty: Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign.” Symbolic Interaction 32(2):146-168. Williams, Raymond. 1980. “Advertising: The Magic System.” In Problems in Materialism and Culture, 170-195. London: Verso. ^Indicates boiler plate texted provided by the university 5 6

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