It's easy to assume that advertising is irrelevant to our society and that we tend to ignore the hidden cues in an advertisement. But there is more to advertising's message than meets the casual eye. An effective ad, like other forms of communication, works best when it strikes a chord in the needs and desires of the receiving consumer. This connection provided by the advertisements can influence our behaviors and make us buy certain products. Although most ads look simple and concise, they are both intuitive and highly calculated. Below are 12 questions you should ask when you are either creating or interpreting an ad, which I learned through a marketing internship.
1. What is the general ambience of the advertisement? What mood does it create?
2. What is the design of the advertisement? How are the basic components or elements arranged?
3. What is the relationship between pictorial elements and written material?
4. What is the use of space in the advertisement? Is it full of graphic and written elements?
5. What signs and symbols do we find? What role do they play in the ad's impact?
6. If there are figures (men, women, children, animals) what are they like? What can be said about their facial expressions, poses, hairstyle, age, sex, hair color, ethnicity, education, occupation and relationships to each other?
7. What does the ads background portray? What is the significance of the ad's background?
8. What action is taking place in the advertisement and what significance does it have? (This might be described as the ad's plot.)
9. What theme or themes do we find in the advertisement? What is it about? (The plot of an advertisement may involve a man and a dog walking but the theme might be ambition, friendliness, etc.)
10. How is the language used? What techniques are used in the advertisement texts -- humor, alliteration, definition of life, comparisons or sexual innuendo?
11. What is the item being advertised and what role does it play in American culture and society?
12. What sociological, political, economic or cultural attitudes are indirectly reflected in the advertisement? An advertisement may be about a pair of blue jeans but it might, indirectly, reflect such matters as sexism, alienation, stereotyped thinking, conformism, generational conflict, loneliness, and elitism.
