Making Sense of Ads

Making Sense of Ads is a combination of History, Media and Marketing.

Walking through the history of American advertising the website (produced in association with the Visible Knowledge Project) explores questions one should ask about an ad:

• What is the ad trying to do?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What strategies are used to sell the product?
• What do ads reveal or conceal about an era?
• What else do you need to know to analyze an ad?

The last section of the site is full of web resources for further research on advertisements. Great website to explore for lesson ideas for advertising concepts.