Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet: Advertisement
I. Background
Your name (or group name):
Name of document or text (if no title is provided, give a descriptive name; for example, "Energizer Commercial") :
Author (if no author is specified, give name of company, sponsor, etc.):
Implied author (if different from author above; an implied author is someone whom the work states or implies is the author. For
example, the implied authors of the video and film footage of The Blair Witch Project are the three students who disappear. The real
author(s) are the screenwriter and director.) :
Implied audience (this is the audience for whom the text says it is intended, not the real audience. For example, the implied
audience of the country western song "Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" is mothers whose children might
become cowboys when they grow up.):
Intended audience (this is more like the actual audience, though since the author can't always control who reads or views the text,
the intended audience may be somewhat different from the real audience. In the song "Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to
Be Cowboys," the intended audience is adults--probably men--who have already grown up and have already become cowboys or
would like to pretend that they are like cowboys. The intended audience of the Joe Camel cigarette advertisements is, according to
some experts, children who would be drawn to cartoon characters, although the cigarette company would certainly deny this claim.):
Purpose (this is the purpose you believe the author/advertiser had in mind when he/she created the text. The purpose of an Internet
company's television ad might be to get you to remember and go to their web page later. Texts can have more than one purpose.):
Implied Purpose (if different from the purpose stated above. This is the purpose according to the text itself. For example, a
politician may state that she or he doesn't want to bring up her/his opponent's scandalous past, but the real purpose is both to bring up
the scandalous past and to suggest that the politician who is speaking is an honorable person.) :
II. Rhetorical Strategies
A. Verbal Strategies
Strategy
Figurative language (metaphor,
simile, symbolism, etc.):
Patterns of opposition:
Effect (intended, real, or both)
Appeal to emotion or selfinterest:
Logical fallacy (false analogy, false
use of authority, non sequitur, red herring,
post hoc, ergo propter hoc, straw man,
guilt by association, ad hominem attack,
etc.):
Appeal to authority (use of research,
statement of credibility of author, etc.):
Rhetorical devices (tropes; see
Rhetorical figures for a list, with
examples. See also the list of links at the
bottom of the page.)
B. Visual Strategies
Strategy
Colors or color scheme (if
significant; "black and white" is a color
scheme):
Page layout (spacious, cramped, busy,
simple, etc.; describe in your own terms):
Fonts/typefaces (name or type, size,
Effect (intended, real, or both)
italic/bold, etc.):
Images (subject--i.e. who's in the photo-pose, cropping, angle and distance of
camera, etc.):
Graphics (lines, logos, etc.):
C. Aural Strategies
Strategy
Narrator (gender, type of voice, etc.):
Music/soundtrack:
Sound effects:
Effect (intended, real, or both)