Advertising/Advocacy Assignment--Class T-Shirt: Due as an in class-presentation Wednesday, October 7th

The purpose of this assignment is to create a three piece promotional/advertising campaign for your group's chosen "cause"; your "cause" can be anything from a movie, television show, music star, product, a political cause like PETA, a local cause like "Freshmen against 7:30 Classes," or just about anything in between. The centerpiece for the campaign will be a design for a t-shirt, but as a group you will also decide on two other media; examples are bumper stickers, buttons, posters, commercials or short film, websites, radio spots (articles or commercials), print ads, etc.(the possibilities are endless) - whatever best promotes your message and best utilizes the skills you have as a group. You will need a minimum of three different media (everyone must design a t-shirt; other suggestions are bumper stickers, radio spots, print ads, websites, etc.) for your campaign. Be creative and innovative in your choices.You will also as a group present your campaign - how is up to you. I'm not grading your presentation skills, but, rather, your execution of the visual media.

Along with the three-piece ad campaign, each group must turn in one 2 page essay explaining why they chose the media they did for the campaign they put together. You do NOT need to address the t-shirt in your essay, as it was chosen for you, but, for example, if you decide to use a poster to advertise your new sleeping pill, what you should do is explain why a poster is a good fit for a sleeping pill, AND why the content of your particular poster makes rhetorical sense. Consider rhetorical strategies in communicating a message. How will you draw your audience in? What appeals will you need to make to get your message across? What are you advocating? Why and how? You will need to consider all of the aspects of composition (composition, design and advocacy) in order to create your own text. Please also consider the readings and class discussions that we will have through the course of this project.

The T-Shirt has several criteria to get you started.

Step 1: Each t-shirt must have a unique (as in - you made it) logo and slogan for your campaign.. (Do not use existing slogans or logos. That would be stealing and cheating and will not result in a good grade. At all.) The slogan is the catchphrase: The Dark Knight Rocks! The logo is the image you design to go with that slogan. (A picture of a Batman rock...)

Step 2: Design a logo and a slogan. Your message must have a graphic aspect – a logo, image, or a visual representation or hallmark – and a slogan based on your message that work together to promote or disseminate the message that the group decides on. Choose from freely available clipart/photos or images online, or, if there’s an artist and access to a scanner in your group, design your own. The logo and slogan cannot be trademarked (sorry, you can’t use the “Got Milk?” slogan or the Nike swoosh), but you may consider playing on a trademark as long as it conforms to fair use.

Limitations. The slogan must be legal, secular in content, and appropriate for public consumption. Pretend that its at least a serious parody of an ad campaign. If you're going to be offensive, it shouldn't be more offensive than something that could be readily seen on Saturday Night Live, for instance. Keep in mind that whoever else you decide is the audience, I am part of your audience. If you make me laugh, you've done a good job. If you offend me, you've probably done pretty poorly.

Recommendations: Split this project up into parts based on who is good at what. Determine your timeline for the project, set deadlines for individual and group meetings outside of class. Choose a leader to manage the timeline and keep the assorted parts going.

Note on the individual evaluation: This is meant to be a fun project that allows you to collaborate with your peers. As with any group work, however, some individuals may not hold up their end of the bargain. I have tried to build into the individual portion of the final grade a way to account for this and, if as a group, someone is not putting forth sincere effort or is seriously detracting from the group’s ability to complete the project, I reserve the right to give that individual a lower grade (including a zero) for the project. Please come see me immediately if you have concerns about the work of others or the group as a whole.