Please make sure you also read the original assignment sheet carefully, since that should be able to answer most questions. Good luck!
- How should I cite a magazine advertisement in APA format?
Here is what you will do when you want to cite a magazine ad in the text:
1. Start with the name of the company, followed by a period.
2. List the year and month in parentheses, followed by a period. Place a comma in between the year and month (provide day if known).
3. Provide the title of the advertisement. Place the term “Advertisement” in brackets before the period.
4. List the name of the magazine in italics, followed by volume number and issue number (the volume number should be italicized, and the issue number should appear in parentheses).
5. End your citation with the page number followed by a period.
Here is what you will do when you want to cite a magazine ad in the reference page:
For in-text citation, include the name of the company and year in parenthesis. Separate these elements with commas.
Examples:
a) Advertisements in print from a magazine with known title
Name of Company That Owns the Product. (Year, Month Day of issue which contains the advertisement). Title of advertisement [Advertisement]. Magazine, Volume(Issue) if known, page number advertisement is found on.
In-text: (BMW, 2011)
References: BMW. (2011, June 4). Diesel reinvented [Advertisement]. Fictional Magazine, 7(1), 17.
b) Advertisements in print from a magazine without title
Name of Company That Owns the Product. (Year, Month Day of issue which contains advertisement). [Advertisement for Name of Product being advertised]. Magazine, Volume(Issue) if known, page number advertisement is found on.
In-text: (FedEx, 2011)
References: FedEx. (2011, May). [Advertisement for FedExCup]. Sample Magazine, 5(1), 30.
2. What is a media kit? How should I cite media kits?
A media kit is a document that provides advertisers and advertising agencies with information on a magazine’s readership, advertising rates, editorial policy, and production requirements. It is designed to convince advertisers that a magazine represents the most cost-effective medium for communicating with a specific target audience. For your research paper, you might want to look at the media kit of the magazine in which your ad appears for information such as circulation statistics and readers profiles. This can help you decide whether the magazine is the smart placement decision given the ad’s strategic goals and target audience.
The APA Style recommends citing media kits as a website with a corporate author.
In-Text: (Name of Company, Year)
Reference: Name of Company. (Year). Title of document. Retrieved from URL [Retrieval Date].
Here are some examples:
In-text: (Jetstar, 2017)
Reference: Jetstar (2017). Media Kit 2017. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/565bb1bae4b04cd6ce9e693e/t/58bf4809b8a79b05f45698d9/1488930860530/Jetstar+Media+Kit_2017.pdf [Accessed 5 April. 2018].
In-text: (National Geographic Magazine, 2018)
Reference: National Geographic Magazine (2018). Media Kit 2018. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mediakit/pdf/ng-magazine/NGM_Media_Kit_2017.pdf [Accessed 5 April. 2018].
3. Can I pick an ad from any year?
The answer is yes! But picking an older ad would require some more historical research. For example, you might want to consider the different media environment, both in terms of professional norms or technological conditions, in which advertising professionals operated.
4. Can the ad be an online image?
We don’t recommend it. You need to know what magazine the ad came from, and that’s often difficult to tell online. Ideally, you’d also know if this was a prominently placed ad (for instance, the back cover), since that might guide your research. But if you can find out the magazine, the issue date, and the placement online, we won’t ever know the difference.