HOW TO ANALIZE AN ADVERTISING IMAGE

HOW TO ANALYZE ADVERTS

1. OBJECTIVE READING

 Frame: 3:2, 4:3, 1:1, 16:9

Orientation: Vertical / Horizontal

Iconicity: High  or Low iconicity level

Color: Warm or cold colors, Harmony or contrast, Complementary colors, Saturated or desaturated...

Lighting: Natural or artificial, Natural (noon, golden hour, blue hour), Position (Top light, low angle, side light, back light, front light)

Type of shot: extreme long shot, long shot, medium long shot...

Camera angle: top down, high angle, straight on angle, low angle, worm´s eye angle...

Composition rules: rule of thirds, symmetry, importance of sight, golden ratio, balance, leading lines...

Text types:

 

2. SUBJECTIVE READING

There's more to advertising's message than meets the casual eye. An effective ad, like other forms of communication, works best when it strikes a chord in the needs and desires of the receiving consumer.

1. What does the text say? 

The text was carefully crafted to create a consistent message about the ad.

What typefaces are used and what impressions do they convey?

If there is a headline, how does it grab our attention?

What does the main text tell us about the product or service?

Does it directly reference the product or service's benefits and factual attributes?

Or does the ad prefer to sell the reader on the product's lifestyle benefits instead (telling you how cool you'll be when using the product, for example)?

How does the text relate to the images?

2. What does the image say? 

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and this is very true for print advertisements.

How does the photograph grab our attention? Is the picture depicting the product by itself, or being used by someone?

Does the photograph show us a lifestyle associated with the product (essentially telling us how the product would make our life better)?

How do the images relate to the text? 

3. Who is the magazine/newspaper/billboard's target market? 

Would someone from a different demographic (someone of a different gender, someone older or younger than you, someone who made more or less money than you, someone with different political values, someone of a different race) interpret the text and imagery differently?

What values does the ad contain (is it young, hip, mature, playful, exciting)?

If there are figures (men, women, children, animals) what are they like?

What can be said about their facial expressions, poses, hairstyle, age, sex, hair color, ethnicity, education, occupation, relationships (of one to the other)?

What action is taking place in the advertisement and what significance does it have? (This might be described as the ad's "plot.")

What sociological, political, economic or cultural attitudes are indirectly reflected in the advertisement?

An advertisement may be about a pair of blue jeans but it might, indirectly, reflect such matters as sexism, alienation, stereotyped thinking, conformism, generational conflict, loneliness, elitism, and so on.