IAG 210: Journal

For images, please copy them onto a Word doc and upload that document here. That is an easy format to upload, and an easy one for me to see. Do NOT use Apple Pages – I cannot open Apple formatted word (not Pages or Mov)

If you have a link to your video or audio ad, you may simply upload it to the folder, but it is better to put the link on a Word doc AND save it for yourself, as well as upload that document here.

Contact me by email if you need instructions or have any problems doing this.

Please do not need include any of your analytical discussion here. Flipgrid is sufficient for that. (Some people have given me a copy of their transcript – I will not reject it, but that is not necessary.)For the first half of the semester, I would like you to find two advertisements per week that simply catch your attention enough that you want to talk about them. Save them!

You will also be finding specific ads depending on the theme of the journal. For your first journal, please find 3-4 ads from different media sources, but again, just choose ads that interest you. Then – consider the following questions:

What interests you in advertising – the images? Story lines? Humor? Colors? Use of models (every family in an advertisement is comprised of models – you knew that, right?)? Use of celebrities? The product itself? The local flavor (think of your hometown car dealership TV ads, or stores, restaurants, businesses, etc.)? Think about how you can describe your interest.

The ad you choose can be a TV ad (you’ll have to find a YouTube version of it unless you can capture it (not recommended), or via another platform where you can get a link or embed code for it.

It can be a radio ad – you will have to record it or find it online.

It can be any kind of print ad which you can copy using your phone or a scanner of some kind – or a digital camera, of course. Such ads appear in magazines, newspapers, on the walls of coffee shops, in phone books, fliers that you get in the mail, etc.

And of course it can be an ad you see on social media. Please do not limit yourself to Instagram, but I reckon that’s where many of you will start. Whatever you choose, you have to have some interest in it in order to discuss it.

For each journal, I will ask you questions to guide your report. Your Flipgrid will be limited to five minutes. Think of a 5-7 minute speech cut down to its shortest. The length has two purposes. First, you will develop the discipline of organizing and expressing your thoughts in a limited amount of time. This skill will be hugely valuable to you in work life, student life, and even family life. The person who can get her point across clearly in a few minutes is listened to! Respected. Those who go on and on (like me), try the patience of those around them and risk being tuned out.

The second purpose you can guess. There are 50 of you, and I will listen to each journal at least once! 50 times 5 minutes = 4 plus hours of listening! Plus comments? Eight hours a week for yours truly! (Keeping track of all scores actually takes closer to 12 hours per journal.) (For your midterm I may ask you to sing your journals… I’m joking!)

I am looking forward to hearing your ideas, but I will also need time to respond to you, etc. Five minutes will be the limit for these first journals. Please DO use the time – a journal of just two minutes is unlikely to fulfill the assignment very well.

Peer responses should be no more than 2 minutes! 1 to 2 minutes is enough. But, say something – do not just praise your peer, please!

You will read the first chapter of the Berger text for January 18. You may use his psycho-cultural model to respond to an ad this week if you like …. in any way that makes sense to you now. He mentions sexuality and gender on page 16, race and ethnicity on page 17, and sex and sexuality on page 18. Feel free to bring any of these concepts into your discussion IF they are relevant. Of course you may wait until Week Five (J 2) to use Berger in your journals.

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I will model one journal for you, which you will find on the Flipgrid website. I will only discuss one ad as an example.

For this first journal, please just enjoy making your presentation. Tell us what the ad is about – what is it selling. Then discuss why you chose the ad. You will see in my example that I chose my ad because it’s funny, and it is pass-around worthy! Do I remember the product? Of course! Am I a customer? Nope. I have what I need.

Please DO try to use the features of Flipgrid, for example, including an image of the ad you discuss. Please do NOT play an ad on your cellphone to the camera! You may place links on your FG post so your peers can see it. You must place those links for me in the assignment folder.

In upcoming weeks, I will ask you to apply different concepts and observations to the ads you choose. I will also encourage you to compare any ad you choose to similar product ads in Advertising in America: The First 200 Years. Use that book to help you get a perspective on how advertising has been done for any product you consider if it is treated in the book. Later in the semester I will ask you to do your own search for the history of advertisements for a product you have chosen.

Your journal will be evaluated more for your organization and your ability to express your ideas clearly than for your ability to connect your ads to the readings for your first journal.