October 18, 2010
Unit 2/Ad Analysis
Duman
Introduction

U.S.News and World Report has officially leaked its 2011 Edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools on August 31st, 2010. The advertised product is the magazine itself. The ad is very persuasive because it gives a common goal. The common goal is that the ad encourages people to buy the magazine so they can be successful and graduate in one of the top ranked school in the country. The intended audience for this ad is basically either undergraduate sophomore, juniors, or seniors in college or those who already have a degree. The ad’s primary approach is to get the audience to buy this magazine because it claims that it has all the important key details that can help them get into, and graduate from graduate school. The ad’s primary approach is very effective with persuading the audience to buy this magazine based on the illustration in that ad that is given. In the ad there is a picture underneath that shows 4 college students smiling and holding their diploma. Those who want to obtain an education through graduate school ultimately want to get to that point of smiling and holding a diploma in there hand. The ad is saying that if you buy this magazine you can end up like the four graduates in the picture, and that is what the intended audience, who are college students, wants.

Audience Profile

The U.S. News and World Report is the world’s #1 Best Selling magazine in the world. In America academically, if you are looking for a higher education, for example – graduate school, this is the magazine that is highly recommended. Also, this magazine contains information about different things that are going around in the world. This magazine is an educational and a news magazine. The Executive Committee Chairman and Editor in Chief is Mortimer B. Zuckerman. He made sure that it contains resources for students that want to have a career in Business, Law Medicine, Education, Engineering, and more. The U.S. News and World Report is usually published one year prior to the date. The magazine is published every year since 1946, so the 2011 issue will be the 64 issue that has been available to the public. The reported circulation figures are 1,269,260 Both male and female reads The U.S. News and World Report, but it seems that this magazine is more for the male audience, because a lot of the main careers that are featured in this magazine is predominantly male dominated. The age group are college students, ranging between the ages of 19-25 years old. Since there are hardly any minorities in the pictures in the magazine, the ethnicity is more Caucasian. Minorities might be interested in this magazine though, because a lot of careers that are featured includes skill levels that African Americans are proven good at. The product being advertised is the actual magazine itself, and the magazine cost $14.95, and you can most likely find this magazine n the library or bookstore on campus. It is rarely sold at department stores. There are 22 articles and 10 ads in The U.S. News and World Report. The issues are broken down into categories: Business, Law, Health, Engineering, Education, and Arts & Sciences. These articles are about graduate school education. Other products in the magazine that are being advertised are educational films, electronic media, educational newsletters and magazines that are coherent to the U.S News and World Report. Those who have a common goal in obtaining the best education from the best educators would definitely be interested in this magazine. When reading this magazine, the audience are probably thinking about their future seriously, so their education level is probably higher than others. Those people might be undergraduate students that are in their 20’s looking for a possible reasonable income and where can they get the best information possible to do so.
Physical Description

The ad is advertising the magazine itself. Since the magazine is called “America’s Best Graduate Schools. The ad includes both test, graphics, and pictures. The text stands out throughout the ad, and is very convincing. The letters in big bold letters are convincing the audience that you can find the best school for you with this magazine, and the text in little bold letters are describing what the article contains that can benefit the audience in their search for a good graduate school. The texts throughout the ad are color-coded. The big bold letters that are convincing the audience to buy the magazine are in gold, and it stands out. Gold is a pretty dominant color, specifying attention so the words in gold is the name of the product itself and the big bold letters describing what you can do with it are in big white letters. The letters in white are not necessary, but it gives the audience color. The letters in black are describing what Is inside the product that is being advertised that can benefit the reader. It also gives the product’s website in small white letters. The background color is blue, making it seem like the people in the picture are outside. The words in the ad are centered at the top and the picture and graphics are centered at the bottom. The big bold letters are aligned centered to stand out more compared to the rest of the particles in the ad. The small letters under the big bold letters are aligned to the left because they are giving out certain points and information on what is included and what it is about. The product‘s website is under the little letters and they are the same size. The price is on the left of the website but it is still centered. The picture of the graduates is the biggest graphic of them all. This graphic is at the bottom and it is expanded from one end of the page to another.

Emotional Appeals

The ad seems to appeal to our yearn for success. Graduation is a form of accomplishment that one makes over a certain period of time for their achievements. The picture has its effect on not only students, but for parents because in most cases, they want their child to succeed in life and make them proud. At them bottom of the picture, we can see four young people – two men and two women – standing around holding their diplomas to the camera with smiles on their faces because they just graduated. You can tell that they are happy because the characters are going to into a new lifestyle, either to graduate school, or out in the real world. The ad appeals to emotion, because if you are thinking about graduate school and thinking about getting a good paying job with the best education possible, this magazine itself is for the reader. The ad also revealed to be logical. It’s luring the audience to buy the magazine because of what the creators think that can benefit the average college student looking for something better. The ad knows that college is a challenging time for students that lack resources, so it made sure to mention that they have more career salary data, more data on financial aid, more specialty rankings in the Law, Medical, Business, Engineering, and other careers, to lure them in.

Conclusion
The ad is very appropriate for this magazine and readership, because the four young people are wearing cap and gowns, which symbolizes success, accomplishment and transitions from graduating college, and that’s what the U.S News and World Report magazine is trying to get out. They are saying that if you get the best education, you would have the best outcome, and the only place where you can find the best education is in the America’s Best Graduate Schools magazine