Chapter 14 was interesting to me because I am aware that ads
are meant to convey a message and a lot of times it’s subliminal, so I
purposely try to avoid them because I don’t know what they’re putting in my
mind. I hardly ever watch TV for that
same reason. I do not want to put things
into my brain and my memory that are not beneficial to me. That said, there was one advertisement that
sticks out in my mind. It’s for Fresh
Step cat litter. It's a funny ad because you'd never see a cat do this just because he can't smell the cat litter, so he doesn't know where to go pee.
My grandmother has Alzheimer’s and it’s progressed quite
far, but years ago, she would flip through magazines to keep herself busy. She didn’t have the attention span to really
read an article, but did look at the pictures, including the ads. Whenever she’d come across the ad above, she’d
get a good laugh out of it. Her short
term memory was bad, so when she flipped through the magazine again, she’d
forgot that she already looked at the ad, and laugh again. It never got old for her. I’m sure the designer of the ad meant it to
be humorous and I’m grateful they published it because it brought great joy to
my grandmother.
One of the points Chapter 14 of “The Bedford Guide for
College Readers” makes is that when looking at visual presentation, such as an
ad or a visual essay, is to approach it with a critical eye, thinking about
what the photographer or designer wanted you to observe and the message they
are trying to get across.
Level one is seeing the big picture (291). Level two is to observe the characteristics
of the image (293). Finally, level three
is to interpret the meaning of the image (300).
If you approach an image in a similar way that you would a
reading or dilemma that requires critical analysis, you are bound to get a
deeper meaning and understand the message it was meant to convey.
Dustan S
Works Cited
Kennedy, X. J., Marcia F. Muth, and Dorothy M. Kennedy. The Bedford Guide for College Writers.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. Print.
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