Rhetorical

• To read visual text--to see how it's done and how it's open to interpretation
• To understand what counts for good support for one's claims
• To consider how ads appeal to logos, ethos, and pathos
• To consider how prevalent ads are in our culture (to examine and reflect on what's all around us, what can initially seem invisible)
• To notice the themes ads convey
• To work well in groups
• To appreciate others' "angle of vision" (term from the Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing)
• To see how journal writing can lead to other writings (i.e. writing as process and discovery)
• To foster self-reflection
• To create their own ad, thereby understanding more the rhetorical power of visual text and how its constructed
• To become aware of symbols and other literary tools (metaphors, similes, etc.)

Thematic

• To start considering how much of their world promotes consumption
• To consider how much of what they value doesn't necessarily involve consumption
• To become more aware of how important place could be to them
• To develop a new perspective about advertising
• To reflect on their role in the culture
• To consider what has shaped them
• To consider what kind of image the U.S. might be exporting through ads
• To begin to consider equity, issues of social/global justice

In this beginning writing course, I want students to consider their lifestyles--how the flora and fauna of consumption--shapes so much of their communities and, indeed, one might argue, who they are. I am interested in having students reflect on how much of what they value might have little to do with the advertising world and what it constructs. I'm interested in having students value that which might require no money, no merchandise, to enjoy. I believe that examining how ads set up a certain vision of the so-called American lifestyle can help them see what the advertising culture might steer them towards and away from. Reflecting on the American lifestyle can help students consider that others (read Others) may have no access to such a lifestyle and that, indeed, living the American lifestyle can marginalize and damage others.

In addition, I believe considering what fills students with a sense of connection and even personal power can make them open to contributory democracy. By this I mean, among other things, students can see what they have to offer that doesn't cost money--whether it's time donated to helping others, the environment, or their immediate community. In fact, I'd say that seeing ways one can be a part of a solution (for whatever challenge is envisioned) is not only empowering but equalizing. One does not have to be financially solvent, a good writer, or even a college graduate to, as that overworked but oh, so important cliché’’ responsibility to the non-humans, for example. Psychology teachers could change prompts to encourage student reflection on how others (Others) are viewed and how they are marginalized or excluded.

Because advertisements are outside students' personal experience or narrative they can be wonderful sites of examination and critique. Since students aren't necessarily intimately connected to the ads' visions or narratives, it is almost comfortable, even safe, to deconstruct them.

Possible Use In Other Courses

Any teacher in any discipline could adopt this writing activity. For example, biology teachers might ask students to work with how advertisements are positioning science, what the advertisements suggest about humans' responsibility to the non-humans, for example. Psychology teachers could change prompts to encourage student reflection on how others (Others) are viewed and how they are marginalized or excluded.

Timeframe

This activity can be used in the beginning of an English writing or research course. I believe two weeks is needed for the activity itself. That includes initial journal writings, discussion of ad deconstruction, creation of individual ad, and discussion of ad strategies.

Many of my English 101 students resist the idea that advertising is a carefully constructed example of visual rhetoric. For them, an ad is, well, just an ad. They will concede that advertisements often use sexual innuendo (or blatant exploitation of the human body) to sell merchandise, but many students believe there's nothing else going on. However, as the film "The Ad and the Ego" suggests, the average person in the U.S. is subject to around 1,500 ads a day. Whether they're on radio, the sides of buses, television, trailers to movies, or billboards, advertisements are part of the water we fish swim in, and that's part of the reason students and others don't even notice their power. Awash in ads, few students interpret them to see what concepts they propose and how they sell a lifestyle, a way of being. Noticing an advertisement's prevalence is the first step toward examining the messages, lifestyles, and ideologies they can be seen to support.

Because many students are open to working with visual text--and it can make them feel at ease--one of my classes' beginning writing assignments is to examine the rhetoric of advertisements, and deconstruct what those ads set up. The prominence and visibility of and advertisement works to make it an initially disarming text and tool. The resistance to advertisements' messages can be seen as partial response to their ubiquitous, and this can work toward other goals. For example, any student can readily find an ad: no research required. Plus, I've found that students are open to discussing these texts and are open to sharing perceptions in class. In fact, I've found that small groups of students enjoy hearing what others say about ads and piping in.

Set Up

Rhetorical
Students will have read several chapters in the Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing and will have already completed one small writing assignment. In that writing response, they will have engaged with an accessible essay on just writing lousy drafts, of being open to all sorts of freewriting and wonderful "imperfections"--of writing being about process and discovery. This brief essay by Anne Lamott, "Shitty First Drafts," is rich with description and details, offering imaginative metaphors and similes. This helps students see the visual power of words, as well as begin to consider how things might look. Plus, Lamott's ideas help students see their place in the world of writing, that almost everyone writes "shitty first drafts."

In their journal, students will have done an in-class writing about what they enjoy doing, what's important to them. After they do this writing, I ask them to reread it and note that which requires no money to do (or very little--taking the bus in lieu of driving to a place would be an example, along with packing a picnic to enjoy with good friends). Often this journal writing sparks discussions about what students' value immensely. They often remark on how the journal also "pulls" this out of them. The journal continues to reveal itself as a location for writing as process and discovery. Because it is not examined for grammar, paragraph coherence, or punctuation, the journal can be perceived as a safe place.

Thematic
After the above, I suggest students write in their journal about a place or activity that is meaningful to them. Many write about being in the outdoors and/or being in the outdoors with a relative or friend. The object is to be as detailed as possible without necessarily relying on saying the place/activity is special. I ask them to consider what might evoke that place or activity for others. After discussing the types of places they write about, students share why that place is special. For some, this can prompt a discussion about certain types of development/land consumption: their place is vastly changed or gone. Often, the journal writing's theme has them discuss why they privilege certain places more than others, how their language reflects this (a rhetorical element, of course). In many respects, this sharing allows students to see and appreciate their difference. For example, some students' work may illustrate how a rural or urban upbringing has shaped their lenses.

Following those activities, students are asked to bring in any ads that strike their fancy. In class, we discuss them first in groups and then in front of the class as a whole. I bring in an ad as well, and share my take on it--after the students have shared theirs. Then, I show the film "The Ad and the Ego," a 57-minute film available from California Newsreel (or a great video store). The film deeply explores how we have been cast as consumers, how who we should be is part of the subtext of most ads. Part of the film prompts students to consider how entitled they are set up as being and just who is excluded from this seemingly prosperous and select world.

Two Part Writing Activity

Part One: Writing Response # 2 (the first one in the course was their response to Lamott's essay, "Shitty First Drafts")

For their second writing response for this class, a 2 ½-3 page writing response, I ask students to discuss what they see the ad they've chosen suggesting. Students deconstruct the ad and consider:

• Who is the audience?
• What cultural background is needed to "get" the ad?
• What assumptions are made about the audience?
• What kind of people does the ad assume the audience is and/or who does the ad want them to be?
• What assumptions are made about sustainability?
• What kind of lifestyle does the ad promote?
• What kinds of interactions does the ad promote with other people?
• What awareness of locality does the ad reveal?
• What kind of sense of responsibility to other people or the non-human world does the ad seem to promote?

When students deconstruct their ad, they develop and use their analytical skills, reflect on the concept of audience, and consider what can persuade readers that their take on their ad is plausible, viable. Thematically, they get a better understanding about what is done to persuade people to feel a certain way about a product, buy it and/or the image it can be seen to create. In most cases, their commentary works with the lifestyle and way of living on the earth that the ads can be seen to endorse. Sometimes, their commentary considers who is being left behind.

Part Two: Writing Response #3, Parts A & B

Part A, students create their own ad. They choose something from their journal writing on what was important to them and develop an advertisement for that. In many cases, their ad is about an activity with others that doesn't require money. Students can choose to describe the ad they wish to create or they can actually create the ad by drawing it, creating a collage, or assembling images. In most case, creating a tangible ad by making a collage or drawing the ad is quite satisfying for students: they are invited to do something other than write although they will be working with key rhetorical principles and elements of sustainability.

Part B, which is on its own page, is where students discuss what they hope their ad achieves--how they believe certain words or images, for example, might make viewers feel. One way I've used this part is to have students get into groups and share just Part A. Then, in each group, students describe their peers' ads, essentially describing what they think the ad designer might have written for Part B. Then students share their Part B, and everyone gets to see the difference (or similarity) between what the ad creators intended and what the viewers--their peers--actually said.

Journal Follow-up
To have students dwell on this unit and reflect on their learning experience, I have them spend 15 minutes, writing about any angle of this activity. They can write about what surprised them, what they learned, and if they might have a different attitude about advertisements in the future. I might also suggest students consider what they felt other students' ads suggested about how they view the world, how they might live in the world.

Brief Description of the Follow-Up Unit

The next unit introduces a short book (really a short story): Jean Giono's The Man Who Planted Trees. This accessible book allows students to reconsider place from another angle and reflect on what one can actually do in one's lifetime to make a difference. Many students respond to this narrative and wish such a man had existed. This sets the scene for discussing not only what Giono might have done to elicit such a response but why they feel this way. Many discuss the simple focus of the main character's life, as well as how bit by bit, year by year, he made such a dramatic change in the landscape and the lives of individuals.

For most students, Giono's book and the writing they do in response to it (whether it's questions they create or ideas to extend Giono's focus, for example) reflects a growing interest in how it's possible to live lightly on the earth. For many, the ad exercise and the following reading of The Man Who Planted Trees, prompts conversations about sustainability. In a research-oriented class, this could lead to research about how other cultures live and how their concept of sustainability might dramatically differ from how many in the United States live.

Working with advertisements does, as I note above, have several challenges. The first is a resistance to reading ads as anything more than just an ad (i.e. it has no power). Since I use Allyn & Bacon, I find the book's chapters on visual rhetoric to helpfully set the stage; however, starting with a free association-type of response to ads can begin the process of delving into them. I resist commenting on what might seem to be off-the-wall takes on ads, asking instead that students point to elements of the ads themselves to make their points.

"The Ad and the Ego" is a fast-moving film that requires setup. I might provide the students with an idea of the themes in advance, while asking them about the kinds of films or television they tend to watch. The action element of "The Ad and the Ego" might be positioned as a strategy in and of itself, even before students watch the film.

I would also urge ample time for journal writing, both before and after discussions and the film.

All of the writing responses for this class have a general rubric. In the case of the above writing responses (with one being a visual rhetoric), I look for close following of the prompt and persuasive, supportive details. I suggest that students create clear, coherent paragraphs that are linked to the response's main idea. The response's main idea should be appropriately narrowed and appropriate to the prompt. In general writing responses are 2-3 pages in length and errors are taken into account. I evaluate errors in terms of how they prevent reader understanding. From that perspective, sentence level errors are considered the most problematic. If a writing response has five or more errors (whether it's a confusion of homonyms, three or more fragments, or confusion of possessive versus plural), its grade will be affected. Because writing responses are brief documents, they can earn a check, check plus, or check minus. Generally, three writing responses are 10% of the course grade.

"The Ad and the Ego" http://www.parallaxpictures.org/AdEgo_bin/AE000.00.html