Project description
Most advertising images sell a fantasy first and a product second. The product becomes associated with the fantasy and so the consumer links the product with the fantasy they are being encouraged to invest in. Most of the fantasies in advertising images are concerned with promoting idealized ways of beingthe cool hipster apple user, the older middle-class African American Lincoln Town car driver, the efficient, professional, mother who needs a great washing machine, the older, happily retired middle-class white couple who need digestive aids (especially when watching the nightly news). All of these fantasies of a way of life are constructed through gender, race, class, and sexual norms. Just think about the people we see in everyday life that we NEVER see in an advertising image. For this assignment your campaign is not to sell a way of life through an image (and, therefore, by association a product), but to investigate exactly WHAT fantasy your chosen ad image is trying to sell to you, and HOW it does so. The readings in the sections on Ways of Seeing and Commodifying the Body will be your analytic resources. You need to incorporate them into your campaign by using them to help you interpret your image. What kind of gender, class, race, and sexual ideals and norms is your chosen image attempting to promote? And how do race, class, gender, and sexual norms intersect with each other in your chosen image to produce idealized bodies or/and ways of living? Your paper should be 5 pages total, including copy of image, so 4 written, double spaced, 12-point font. Papers are due at the beginning of class on Monday, April 11. Late papers will be penalized.

Grade rubric:
Analysis (12 points)how well do you show how a fantasy of gender, race, class, and/or sexuality is represented in a particular advertisement? (The readings will give you tools to help you analyze the fantasy in adsthink of Bergers discussion of the social presence of men and women; the Guerrilla Girlss critique of art and use of humor; Williamsons discussion of the fashion for tans; Lazregs discussion of how in the west we make very broad generalizations about Islamic women, etc. You also might find some materials from the first part of the course helpful, especially Lorber and Young).
Organization (4 points)how organized is your argument? (strong thesis, good transition between paragraphs)
Writing (4 points)is your writing clear and concise? Have you read and re-read to catch typos and grammatical mistakes?