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What Key Features Do I Look For?
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Please remember to avoid footnotes and to include an
alphabetical list of 'References' which have been cited in the text
(not a Bibliography of anything you have read for the essay). This list should include
author's names, date, book titles (in italics), place of publication and publisher.
Within the text always cite author's surname, date and page number. Double-space your
text and number your pages. For more detailed notes on writing essays in this
department, click
here.
For examples of essays by UWA students click
here.
Advice for this particular assignment: Discuss some examples of ads which some people have treated
as if they were art, and outline the arguments of some of those who have taken this stance. Don't spend too
much time defining 'what is art?' because there are dozens of entire books on this!
This assignment raises a host of interesting questions, not all of which can be tackled within the time and
space available. The following are the questions that initially occurred to me.
Why are some
ads regarded by some commentators as art while others are not? What criteria for art do they seem to be
employing?
Outline and assess the main objections to the idea that advertising can be art -
in particular, the argument that it is a commercial practice and can only be a craft. How does this issue
relate to the tensions between creativity and effectiveness in the discourse and practices of advertising agencies?
Does it simply equate to the 'creatives' versus the 'suits'?
What relevant career pressures affect the attitudes of practitioners to this issue?
Are some ad directors just frustrated film-makers? Are their ads a way of selling their talents as an
escape from advertising into film? Do the film-makers who continue to produce ads
do so primarily to fund their films? Why are some advertising practitioners openly hostile to ads as art?
Do people outside the ad industry ever treat ads as art?
What attitudes do the agencies' clients - the advertisers - have to ads as art? Does it depend partly
on the product sector and/or brand image? Are some brands more associated with ads as art than others?
Why? Include and discuss some ads which directly
incorporate existing works of art. Which works of art are most often used in this way and what does their
use tend to signify? Consider some examples which simply seem to seek to associate the product with the values evoked by the
artwork itself? Does this strategy work?
Does art sometimes function as a signifier of upmarket products? Are some artistic allusions
a form of narrowcasting which flatters the intelligence of the better educated consumer (and thus a form of targeting)? If so, examine
some examples. Is the incorporation of artworks ever used ironically and
if so, how and why?
Do some kinds of advertising awards encourage the treatment of ads as art? If so, which and how?
What criteria are applied in the most famous ad awards (e.g. 'the fake Cannes', the Clios and the D&AD awards)?
Is there a fundamental opposition between creativity and effectiveness? Are there any examples of ads which have been regarded
both as highly creative and as commercially effective?
Are there any (positive or negative) consequences for advertising in treating ads as art?
Has advertising influenced art and film? Have art and film influenced advertising?
Simply answering such questions will not produce a
good essay: develop a coherent, well-supported argument (it takes time and effort to impose this kind of
order on your material but remember that your essay is an advert for you - make it a good one). It would be wise to
include examples from different media (e.g. magazine ads, hoardings and television or cinema commercials).
Do not focus on your personal opinions on the topic, but try to 'map out' and weigh up the various arguments offered by all
sorts of people in the field and use some examples chosen by you in order to discuss the issues in more detail and
demonstrate your understanding of the arguments.
Note: the inclusion of reproductions of relevant ads
and/or disk copies of commercials is essential for this assignment.
For guidance on capturing stills, click here.
Some suggested reading
Note: Treat with extreme caution sources labelled with this symbol!
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