SWA #6 - Intro & Thesis - 01/31/12

As one flips through any kind of publication, he/she is sure to come across several advertisements in which he/she is being encouraged to invest in a product or service. Taking a closer look at these ads, assumptions advertisers make about the consumers looking at their ad become obvious. These circumstances hold true in two different Geico Insurance advertisements found in Sports Illustrated and Newsweek magazines. A large image of a basketball and a message on time management with relation to a college basketball game indicates that Geico assumes Sports Illustrated’s readers’ attentions can be grabbed when a sport image is present, and they value their time. In addition, Geico assumes Newsweek’s readers can relate to high academic learning and need to know a lot about a product or service before investing, all indicated by the presence of a large textbook in the ad and an explanation of the company’s history and values on the reverse side. These assumptions are only a few of the many things one can look into when analyzing these Geico advertisements.