Essay One: Rhetorical Analysis
For this two part assignment, you will need to locate a billboard (you should make a digital copy of it)
and analyze it rhetorically. For your thesis, you will need to determine how it attempts to "become
part of the culture," "create a culture" or create a "cult-like" following. Support your thesis by analyzing
both its immediate and broader contexts; that its purpose, who its target audience is and how the ad
identifies them, how it persuades them (e.g., how does it establish an ethos and use pathos and/or
logos), what is its cultural context and how does the brand "fit-in" with the specific locale/site in order
to create positive exposure.
Part two of this assignment will be to present your analysis orally to the class in a 5 minute traditional
oration (that is, without visual aids except for a copy of the billboard being analyzed).
Essay One: Rhetorical Analysis of a Billboard
Analysis Criteria
1) How does it attempt to "become part of the culture," "create a culture" or create a "cult-like"
following? What is the primary purpose? Are there additional purposes you need to
consider?
2) What is its immediate context:
A) What is the subject or content?
B) Who is the author/authors?
C) Who is its target audience?
D) How does the ad identify them?
E) How does it persuade them?
F) How does it establish an ethos?
G) How does it use pathos and/or logos? Is this a serious or comic image? How do you
know?
3) What is its broader context:
A) What are its cultural and social contexts and how does the brand "fit-in" with the
specific locale/site/environment in order to create positive exposure?
B) What is its historical and/or political significance/context?
4) How is the image arranged in the visual space?
A) Can you diagram its overall composition?
B) What effect does this arrangement have on the way you read this image?
C) Does the image include words or a caption? How are those words used? Do they
simply identify the image? Are they part of the image? What do they contribute to
the overall message?
D) What strikes you as important, interesting, or emotionally moving in the image?
E) Can you identify elements of the image that could be seen as symbolic?