Argument in Advertising

 

Chapter five in your book discusses “Reading and Writing about Visual Arguments” and how advertising uses visual and sound elements to communicate information and
ideas to the intended audience of the ad. We also discussed in class how advertisers use the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos to make a powerful case to
the audience. In class, we watched several Public Service announcements from the Australian Transport Commission (TAC Victoria) that dealt with serious public service
issues such as drinking and driving, not wearing seatbelts, distractions while driving and other issues that can lead to road fatalities. For this assignment, you
will take a public service commercial of your choice and evaluate the claim, reasons and evidence but also the visual and sound techniques used and how it uses the
rhetorical appeals to reach its intended audience.

Assume your reader has not seen the Public Service Announcement you are evaluating. In your introduction identify the PSA by name, who is presenting it and when was
it first released. Explain to the reader what the commercial is trying to prove or establish (what is its claim?). Explain your purpose in evaluating the commercial
clearly (to evaluate the techniques used by the filmmakers to promote their argument to the audience).

In order for your reader (who has probably not seen the PSA) to understand what happens in the PSA clearly, first explain briefly what happens during the PSA. This
will help their understand your analysis later in the essay. You don’t need to go into details you will cover later, but give the reader a sense of what happens and
how the PSA is organized. This is your first body paragraph.

In the second third and fourth paragraphs of the essay, you will need to explain how the commercial makes its case to the viewer through reasons and evidence. You
will be evaluating ways that ethos, pathos and logos are used to appeal to the viewer in different and effective ways. Our discussions in class of the TAC Victoria
commercials will suggest the kind of things you will be looking for in your commercial.You want to explain what happens generally in the commercial, but repeating what
happens is not your purpose here. As you describe the events and what is said, explain how Ethos, Pathos and Logos are used to impact the reader.

Once you have evaluated Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, you need a fifth paragraph on visual techniques and sixth paragraph on sound techniques. Keep your analysis easy to
follow. Use specific examples of camera movment, editing, set design or other elements that are visually effective in convincing the audience. As for sound, discuss
music or sound effects that are used to manipulate the emotions of the audience, communicate a message with the lyrics, or draw attention to certain things through
lack of sound.

Again, your opinion on drinking and driving or whatever topic your Public Service Announcement is about is not asked for. You are only evaluating what techniques are
being used by the people who made the commercial in order to reach and persuade the audience.

write a conclusion parapgrah that summarizes your evaluation of the PSA and your final thoughts on the effectiveness of the presentation as a whole. You can talk
about the importance of the issue and why the commercial is successful (or not successful) but again, your opinion on the issue the PSA discusses is not needed here.