The gist: An advert's one job is to persuade you — to buy, choose or believe. Every word and picture serves that job.
Scroll your feed for ten seconds and you pass a dozen.
“New drop.” “You deserve this.” “48 hrs only.”
Each one wants something from you — usually your money. The clever trick: spot what feeling it's selling(cool, safe, belonging), because that's what really makes you want it.
What to look for
Slogan & brand
A short, memorable line + the brand name. ‘Just do it.’
Imperatives
Commands push you to act: ‘Grab’, ‘Discover’.
Direct ‘you’
Speaks straight to you, as if it knows you personally.
FOMO & flattery
‘Limited’ (fear of missing out); ‘you've earned it’ (flattery).
Slogan · imperatives · ‘you’ · FOMO
The key move: The best adverts sell a feeling — confidence, belonging, freedom — and stick it on the product. Name that feeling and you're analysing, not just spotting.
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Why it matters in the exam: In Paper 1 an advert arrives as a whole page: picture and words together.
What to do
- The guiding question usually asks how they work together to persuade.
- Reach the feeling being sold.
- Read the picture as carefully as the words.
How do the words and the picture work together to persuade readers to holiday in their own country?
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
How Paper 1 is marked: Four criteria, 5 marks each: A understanding and interpretation, B analysis and evaluation, C focus and organisation, D language (SL one text, out of 20; HL two texts, out of 40).
What the marking notes look for
- The notes list the text's ‘significant elements’.
- For an advert, roughly half are about the picture: colour, who is shown and where they look, the logo, where the words sit.
- A different, well-argued focus is rewarded too; you do not have to answer the guiding question.
Watch out: Never skip the picture, and never stop at ‘it persuades’. Each point: the choice → its effect → the feeling sold or the audience targeted.