Rhetorical Analysis of a Commercial
Sources:
● At least FIVE sources.
○ ONE may be considered to be your commercial
○ TWO NEED to be Academic articles
○ The other TWO are your decision.
○ Remember, you may share THREE sources with your partner.
● Where your sources come from:
○ You will have done THREE 3R Analysis that focus on the question centered
around your Rhetorical question for this paper, so that is THREE of your sources.
○ It is up to you if you decide to make use of this to get the academic articles done
and out of the way.
What the essay should do:
● Your essay will examine the rhetorical strategies used in a commercial and question an
aspect of the commercial and its use of the appeal chosen.
● Your essay must address and respond to the assignment description. Most students fail or
get low grades because they fail to read the entire assignment.
What the essay should NOT do:
● Summarize the commercial.
○ A summary may be necessary for a point you are making, but essays that rely on
a summary will not be successful.
● Review the commercial.
○ It is not about how much you like (or dislike) it, and it’s not merely about which
points you agree or disagree with.
Format: MLA
Before you write a Source Analysis Paper :
● Understand your purpose
○ To Analyze and…. (reflect, explain, propose, inform,argue,evaluate?).
● Understand your audience
○ Your reader is - Your Professor
○ What kind of information do you need to explain to me?
○ What kind of information is better left out of the paper all together?
Planning your Source Analysis Paper :
● Consider the company’s prime objective (surface text).
● Consider the commercial’s subtext.
○ How did the commercial get the two points above across?
○ Which of the two came across louder?
● Remember the Elements of rhetoric:
● Speaker: Who is in the commercial. Could be one person, a group of people, or
even animals or talking objects. It may be helpful to research the background,
qualifications, and reputation of the speaker.
● Audience: Who is the commercial aimed at?
● Purpose: Remember there is both the surface text of “Buy this product or do this
thing!” and then there is the subtext as well.
● Message: This is the HOW of the commercial, what is the message used to say
“Buy this thing?” Remember,. messages can be overt or subtle, and they go
beyond mere description of content.
● Genre: Commercial, but what kind? Informative, cartoon, dramatic?
● Context: What was going on at the time that the commercial first aired? What
channel did it first air on?
Your Working Thesis :
● Draft a working Thesis Statement - Which directly ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION.
○ Question: Should athletes who enhance their performance through biotechnology
be banned from athletic competitions?
○ Working Thesis:Athletes who enhance their performance through biotechnology
should be banned from athletic competitions.
○ Stronger Working Thesis: Athletes who boost their performance through
biotechnology should be banned from competition because biotechnology gives
athletes an unfair advantage and disputes fair play.
● Remember this is a WORKING thesis. It will, and most likely, should change.
○ The working thesis is a useful place to start a first draft. A way to limit your
focus, but it does not respond to why your readers will care.
● As you move toward a final draft and a more specific stance you want to take on your
question, you can put your thesis to the “SO WHAT?” test:
○ Ask yourself the following questions:
○ Why would readers want to read an essay with my thesis?
○ How would you respond if someone asked you why your thesis mattered?
○ Is your thesis debatable? Can you argue the thesis?
○ Can you establish common ground with readers who do not agree with your
statement?
What to Say in the Rhetorical Analysis :
1. Intro (A paragraph or two)
a. Start with a startling statement or provocative question.
b. Introduce the product and company.
c. Makes a claim about how well (or poorly) the commercial fulfilled the purpose
and identify the key appeal the commercial used to influence the audience.
d. Formulate a thesis statement informing the reader about the purpose of the essay.
e. Do not presuppose telling everything possible on the given topic. Thus, a thesis
statement tells what you are going to say, implying what you will not discuss, and
establishing the limits.
2. Explanatory Information Body Paragraphs. [This should take about half a page]
a. What was happening at the time that the source was written?
b. Be sure to indicate the source(s) of your information.
c. Describe the rhetorical situation in greater detail than the introduction,as well as
the speaker, the intended audience, and the intended purpose of the message.
3. Evaluative Body paragraphs. [This is the bulk of your paper - at least two or three pages]
a. Evaluate the effectiveness of the piece of communication.
b. Each paragraph or section should examine an aspect, element, or appeal that
contributed to the work’s success or failure in achieving its purpose.
c. In these paragraphs, you might…
i.
explain why the speaker was (or was not) qualified to communicate the
message and whether or not the speaker came across as credible;
ii.
describe why particular pieces of evidence, examples, or reasoning were
(or were not) effective; carefully consider how these examples affect the
overall impact of the piece on the intended audience.
iii.
critique logical fallacies, gaps in the speaker’s argument, or the speaker’s
failure to consider important information or perspectives;
iv.
explain why the tone, language, examples, or artistic choices were likely
(or unlikely) to resonate with the audience;
v.
describe the emotional effect the work was likely to have on the audience
vi. and whether or not it aligned with the speaker’s purpose.
4. Conclusion. [This can be up to one page, but at least half a page.]
a. The conclusion is not a rewording of your introduction.
b. Why does this commercial warrant a rhetorical analysis? What did it accomplish?
c. What does your analysis reveal about society, human nature, current history?
d. What should your readers do in response to the analysis you’ve just provided?
How should it shape how they watch similar types of commercials?
Additional Guidelines:
● Your essay must contain INTRODUCTION + BODY + CONCLUSION + WORKS
CITED. Forget about the 5-paragraph essay; those only worked in high school, when the
essays were shorter and less complex.
● All your paragraphs should be fully developed and include transitions. The paragraphs in
the body of your essay should contain a topic sentence introducing the topic to be
discussed and relating back to the thesis.\
● Avoid “lab talk” (e.g., “In this paper I will prove…”) and phrases like “I believe that” or
“In my opinion.” Your reader assumes that everything you write that you do not attribute
to another author is your opinion.
● Select lines, quotes, passages, or specific details to discuss to make a claim about the
whole work.
● Make sure your essay follows a logical structure and organization. It is not necessary to
imitate the chronology of the literary work you are analyzing.
● Avoid generalizations and oversimplifications, such as “all men think…” or “since the
beginning of times.”
● Remember you need to incorporate at least TWO academic sources to develop your
argument.
● Quote only passages that would lose their effectiveness if they were paraphrased. Never
use a quotation to substitute for your own prose. Always include a tag line on any
quotation in order to introduce it (e.g., “According to author X, …” or “As author Y
points out, …”)
● Cite your sources properly in MLA style. When in doubt, ask.
● Consider coming to my office hours for help with your writing.