“Mirrors and Windows” Comparative Analysis of Two Print Ads
Due: May 3 by 11:59 PM
Points: 200 points
Your Purpose
To analyze the “mirror and window” persuasive effects (see pages 244-246) of some of the compositional features (see
pages247-248) of two print ads.
Your Audience
Educated citizens who seek out insightful social and cultural analysis delivered in closed-form prose.
Paper Length
The essay must be a minimum of three pages formatted according to MLA 8 guidelines.
Your task
Choose two print advertisements to analyze in a closed-form essay. Your two visual tests should have enough in
common to facilitate meaningful comparisons. (But don’t select two ads that sell the exact same product in almost the
exact same way; you won’t have much to compare.) Look for alike ads with meaningful differences. Show these ads in
your essay, but also describe your two print ads in detail to highlight what you want viewers to see and to provide a
foundation for your analysis. For this closed-form analysis, choose several key points of contrast as the focus (like the
social/cultural meanings of objects and people, the gender roles of women and men, the values being appealed to or
challenged, the power relationships among characters, the fantasies being appealed to, and so on). Your thesis
statement should make a claim about key differences in the way that your chosen print ads establish their purposes and
achieve their persuasive effects; in particular, your thesis will present the key differences you find in the ads’ uses of
mirrors and windows (see pages 244-246) to persuade their viewers, paying careful attention to the compositional
features of the ads (see pages 247-248).
Ad Analysis Requirements/How It Will be Graded
Each sentence and paragraph should apply the old/new contract and the rules of Edited American English.
Title and Introduction: Hook readers; introduce readers to the ad’s rhetorical situation; pose the question your
analysis will answer (i.e., How do these ads use the mirror and window effects to persuade their target
consumers, and what insights can be gained from comparing and contrasting their approaches?)
Thesis: Present the overall insights you have gained after comparing and contrasting the persuasive effects of
two print ads’ “mirror and window” strategies (see pages 244-246) as seen in their compositional features (see
page247-248)
o An example: A close analysis of Geico’s and Progressive’s car insurance ads reveals that both companies
aim to target middle- and lower-class Americans with characters who seem to live to save their
customers money; key differences between their mirror and window effects lie in the genders and
ethnicities (or species, even) of the companies’ characters.
This thesis looks at the mirror and window effects of the ads’ characters’ social appeal.
Descriptions: Detailed physical descriptions of the ads that highlight what you want readers to see and that
provide a foundation for your analysis.
Analysis: In three or more body paragraphs, analyze key differences between the mirror and window effects of
the print ads, focusing on key compositional features. Each body paragraph should have the following elements:
o a topic sentence that states one main idea that controls the entire paragraph
o examples that reasonably illustrate the main idea
o thorough analysis/discussion of examples that demonstrates how examples support the main idea
o a concluding statement that ties off the main idea and links it back to the thesis
MLA Style: Your essay must apply MLA paper format guidelines. You do not need to cite the ads for this essay.