In the upcoming essay, you may want to draw on a keyterm from one of the advertising experts presented in Frontline’s The Persuaders documentary. As I mentioned in class a week ago, you’ll need to cite the expert, not the movie, as the origin for the term, while at the same time citing the movie as the origin of your quotation.

Here are the mechanics for doing so:

1. Name the expert (including his/her qualifications) in the main text of your essay.
2. Add a parenthetical source citation at the end of the sentence.
3. List the documentary’s vital details in a Works Cited page appended to your essay.

Thus,

The commercial’s repeated presentation of Slim Jim Dare Sticks as a treatment for emasculation can be considered an instance of “emotional branding,” a recent trend in advertising discussed in the 2003 Frontline documentary The Persuaders. In one interview segment, Kevin Roberts, CEO of Satchi and Satchi, suggests that the brands that command “loyalty beyond reason” are those which have made themselves into “Lovemarks” (II, 9:50). Applied to Slim Jim’s “Intensive Care” segment, Roberts’ insight suggests that the brand is trying to forge a tough but brotherly kinship with its (male) customer base. Women may prove fickle and undeserving of your devotion, but bros and Slim Jims will stand by you when times are tough.

….

 

Works Cited

The Persuaders. Dir. Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin. Other details for you to work out. Your citation should reference both the movie (2003) and the website (went live Nov 9, 2004). Note also my use of “Hanging Indent” ¶ format.

Stuff I’d like you to note about the example above:

• The sentence right before the reference to Roberts and The Persuaders, setting up a connection to Roberts’ keyterm.
• The two sentences after the reference to Roberts’ keyterm, making clear how it applies to the advertisement I’m analyzing.
• The words used to identify who Roberts is, suggesting why his opinion matters. Note that I got that info from The Persuaders, which makes a similar effort to ID Roberts.
• My example uses 1½ sentences to introduce Roberts and his keyterm idea. If I needed 3 or more sentences, I’d want to consider presenting his idea as a digression ¶ (something we practiced last unit).
• I’m using MLA source citation, and you should too. But to force you all to practice, I’ve left out most of the citation I created. You can create your own citation using the Handbook you purchased at the start of the year, or you can use EasyBib. Either way, you’ll need bibliographic info on the documentary, information that’s available on The Persuaders’ website: look for the Credits page.