English Homework Help

You have several options for finding images to write about: 

You could use Google or other search engines to find ads, billboard images, movie posters, etc; you could look through actual print copies of magazines that you own or otherwise have access to; you could use the links below to access online archives:

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/ — a collection of historical ads from Duke University Library

adflip.com/ — an archive of classic print ads

http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/ — collection of vintage ads

Some helpful hints for finding images:

1. The images you choose MUST be ones that were produced by actual, legitimate companies and circulated in mainstream media for real commercial purposes. All of Katz’s and Kilbourne’s images come from mainstream commercial sources, so your images should come from such sources as well. Please do not choose images that have already been discussed in Katz’s or Kilbourne’s videos or in the sample student papers posted on Blackboard. 

2. You’ll have to submit your chosen images this week. So, when you find images that are interesting to you, please be sure to save them to your computer.  If you choose images from actual print magazines (as opposed to those found in electronic databases), you’ll need to scan the images so that you have electronic copies of them.

3. BEFORE you begin searching for images, please re-read the assignment description to remind yourself of your goal and purpose.

4. Since your primary goal in Project #2 is to apply Kilbourne’s or Katz’s ideas to two specific images, and since their ideas focus on representations of PEOPLE, be sure to find images that actually have people in them (or at least people-like characters–for instance, an ad that shows a stick of gum shaped as a woman).  You’ll have more success with this assignment if your images actually use people in them!

5. Remember that your two images need to have something in common–maybe they’re movie posters for similar types of movies. Or maybe they’re ads for the exact same product but for different ad campaigns in different magazines.  Just be sure NOT to choose two images that have nothing to do with each other–like an ad for a car, and an ad for shaving cream.

6. If you want, you could choose images from two different time periods–e.g., an ad for a weight-loss supplement from the 1950s and one from today.  In the past, students have had a lot of fun with this kind of approach!

After your instructor receives your ads in your weekly work submission, he/she will review, comment on, and “approve” them (i.e., tell you whether he/she thinks your images will work for the project).

After you’ve decided on the media images you’d like to focus on for Project #2, please write out responses to the questions below. 

Writing out these responses will help you (and your instructor!) determine whether you’ve chosen appropriate images for this assignment.

1. What specific images have you chosen? Are they ads? Billboards? Movie posters? Something else?

2. Where did you find these images (what specific online site, or what print publication)? Don’t just say “google images”–give the specific site.

3. Do these images actually portray people in some way–in the images presented and/or in the wording that accompanies the images?

4. Do these images have something in common (e.g., they’re both ads for a similar kind of product; they promote a similar kind of message, etc.)?  Explain the commonality you see in your images.

5. Off the top of your head, name one idea of Jean Kilbourne’s or Jackson Katz’s (from their videos) that you think applies to these images–and briefly explain how that idea applies.  (For example, maybe you’ve found movie posters that illustrate Katz’s ideas about the normalization of violence in contemporary media.  Or maybe you’ve found ads that contradict Kilbourne’s ideas about the obsession with thinness in contemporary advertising.) 

6. Overall, why have you chosen these particular images to focus on?