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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which company's All-Bran ad promoted their product as a cancer preventing food?

2. What does the essay "Asian Women in Film: No Joy, No Luck" focus on?

3. What are some motivators typically used in ads?

4. What does mass production and mass marketing that categorizes people result in?

5. How does semiotic interpretation of an advertisement help the customers?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do advertisements perpetuate gender stereotyping?

2. What are some examples of popular culture?

3. What is the first step in semiotic writing as recommended by the authors?

4. Why is it important to do a semiotic analysis of American film?

5. How are Asian women represented in American movies? How does it reinforce the image held by society?

6. According to the authors, what are the advantages of writing about popular culture?

7. How is semiotic analysis of TV program different from a review or opinion?

8. What is Democracy of Afflictions? Name some of the products that are sold under this theme.

9. What is the earliest sign of American consumption of "more?" When did that happen?

10. What are popular signs of life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 1, the authors posit that compared to other American demographic groups, students may be freer to project their image through the products they buy. Write a paper stating your agreement or disagreement with the authors (this is called a position paper) in the context of your personal experience as a student.

Essay Topic 2

Choose six advertisements from magazines catering to different consumer groups, such as men, women, and children. Do a semiotic analysis of the underlying message and ideologies. Your analysis must include the impact of these advertisements on the consumer groups they are targeting.

Essay Topic 3

What is the impact of reality TV shows on children? Take a reality show as an example to do a semiotic analysis of its potential impact on middle school children watching it.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 920 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample