Los Angeles Pierce College Rebel Sell Ads Analysis

Essay One—analyze an ad.

Option One:

Assignment: Find an ad that attempts the “rebel sell” or otherwise

sells some sort of distinction

. Your thesis

should tell me how that ad makes this sell: what appeals does it make? How does it make those appeals? How

is it selling distinction? This is an image analysis paper, so you should break the ad down into parts and show

the reader how the parts work together to make the ad’s argument.

Sample Theses:

1. Xerox’s print ad in

Maxim

5/06 issue 45 attempts the “rebel sell” by identifying with creative self-

sufficiency.

2. The Pabst Blue print ad in the 78

th

issue of

Stuff

effectively makes a rebel sell because it is cynical and

self-aware, signaling that it is hip to “rebel” irony.

3. This ad for the H2 in

National Geographic

‘s September 2005 issue appeals to our desire for distinction

from mass-culture because it confers the distinction of financial success, absolute “otherness” in

comparison to everything else on the road, and the unique potential power to explore virgin wilderness. Your paper should include

1. a strong thesis-claim.

2. image analysis.

3. detailed support.

Length:

3

pages.

MLA FORMAT double spaced