Advertising Assignment

This assignment will be due in class Monday October 18th. It is composed of two parts: a collage, and a one-page analysis (typed). The process for the assignment is as follows:

Choose three contemporary print magazines or newspapers (not more than few months old). Peruse them for advertising and select a specific, focused theme that emerges that you'd like to base your collage on. Cut out or tear the ads (don't damage any library materials!) and glue them to a larger sheet of paper or cardboard. There is no limitation on size. Your theme may be written on your collage or not.

Be as specific as possible with your chosen theme: don't just address a general topic like "sexism in advertising" or "skinny adolescent females women in advertising." Allow your theme to be complex and related to your own interests. Obviously, your theme must be related to some aspect of women's and/or gender studies. Some example: "homoerotic imagery in clothing ads"; "juxtaposition of food and image obsession in advertising"; "alcohol advertising and rave culture"; "abundance of the color pink in ads geared towards teenage girls" etc.

Accompanying your collage should be a ONE page analysis of your process and findings. What magazines/newspapers did you look at before you chose your final three, what is the target demographic audience of the magazine/newspaper, how does advertising seem to function in general within the publication, are the ads related to nearby articles or topic sections, etc.

When analyzing the ads themselves, consider what drew your eye or interest as you narrowed down your theme and final selection of ads (feel free to bring in other ads that did not end up in your final collage). How did you decide on your final theme? What is significant or relevant about this theme to the study of gender? What implications for the ads have for this theme? Finally, feel free to explore your own emotional or intellectual responses that came up while doing this assignment.

Feel free to post any questions in the comments section.