Advertisement Redesign Reflection

Going into this essay, I was a little worried about how I was supposed to explain how to redesign an advertisement in 5-7 pages. I wasn't sure if I would be able to explain all the details I needed to just by using one, simple looking ad. I also kept wondering if I had chosen a good advertisement and if it would be too hard to explain the rhetorical appeals

After flipping through countless magazines, I finally found one that could be applied to males and females. Most of the ads I had found previous to the Beats ad were about makeup, which I felt would be harder to redesign for a new audience. After I found my ad, I continued to think of ways to redesign it and I tried to answer a couple of the guidelines before I even started. By doing this, it made writing the essay and thinking of ideas a little easier.

As I looked through the magazines, I would stop every so often and try to think about two audiences for an ad. When I found the ad that I used, it made it a little easier because I took some supportive points from the previous ads. I mostly typed points that I thought were important, and then put then into paragraphs. After the paragraphs, I added supporting details to make each paragraph flow a little better. I mostly sketched it out after picturing it in my mind. I felt that by picturing it in my mind, it would be easier to add and take away things that if I sketched it out.

As I began the essay, I had no idea where to begin. I was overwhelmed a little bit by the amount of pages. But after just typing up information in underdeveloped paragraphs, I realized that 5-7 pages were not that big of a deal. As I started on the redesign portion of the essay, I realized it was a little difficult not to use the first person perspective. I continuously kept typing things such as “I would change this because…”. After the peer review, I learned a couple ways to avoid using the word ‘I’.

            One couple thing I really liked about this assignment was that before we started the essay, we redesigned an advertisement in a group. By doing it in a group, we were able to bounce ideas off of each other and make our redesign even better. I also liked being able to choose my own advertisement. By choosing our own instead of being assigned one, it made me a little more relaxed because in some way I was in control of part of the assignment.

            While doing this essay, I developed a better understanding of the rhetorical appeals. It made the appeals easier to understand and easier to apply to everyday life. If we had just done an essay about the appeals, I don’t think I would have learned as much because originally, the topic was a little hard to understand. But by doing the group redesign as well as discussing how each ad could use the appeals, I learned more that I would have if I had just done a rhetorical essay.

            If I had a second chance to write this essay, I probably would have chosen an ad that would have changed my audience significantly. For my ad, the only thing that changed was the gender, and everything else stayed the same. I would try to apply my new ad to an entirely different audience.