Advertisement Quality Guide
This guide describes an original print advertisement and a short rationale for a specific group with a need, desire, or concern. It is formative: use it to plan, self-check, and give peer feedback. It contains no scores, bands, levels, or confidential marking material.
How to use this guide. Read the whole guide before you draft. Choose one criterion to work on in each revision pass. A useful self-check names a specific sentence or choice, not a general feeling.
1. Audience and purpose
What strong work does. The advertisement addresses a specific audience and makes its purpose clear through every choice.
Ask your draft. Who is this for, and how do I know from the page?
Revision move. Remove one detail that appeals to a different audience.
2. One message
What strong work does. A single, credible message drives the design. Supporting copy adds rather than crowds.
Ask your draft. Can I state the message in one sentence?
Revision move. Cut the second message and strengthen the first.
3. Visual hierarchy
What strong work does. Salience, contrast, grouping, and white space guide the eye in a deliberate order.
Ask your draft. Where does my eye go first, second, and third?
Revision move. Make the call to action the third stop, not the fifth.
4. Copy and voice
What strong work does. Headline, body copy, and call to action are precise, readable, and consistent in voice.
Ask your draft. Does the headline promise something the copy can support?
Revision move. Rewrite the headline as a concrete benefit, not a vague adjective.
5. Ethical persuasion
What strong work does. Claims are truthful, evidence is not distorted, and the advertisement avoids manipulation or stereotypes.
Ask your draft. Would I be comfortable explaining this choice to the audience?
Revision move. Replace one pressure tactic with a reason.
6. Rationale
What strong work does. The rationale explains specific choices and their intended effects on the audience, including one trade-off.
Ask your draft. Have I explained why, not just what?
Revision move. Add one sentence about a choice I rejected and why.
Peer feedback protocol
- Read or view the whole draft once without writing anything.
- Name one strength using the language of the guide: “The … works because …”.
- Ask one genuine question about a choice you could not follow.
- Offer one specific next move that the maker can complete in the next lesson.
Do not give a score, a band, or a level. The purpose is to help the maker see their own draft more clearly.
Draft checklist
- I can name my audience and purpose in one sentence each.
- My advertisement communicates one message.
- The reading path is deliberate and easy to follow.
- Every image and font is original or properly licensed.
- My rationale explains effects, not just features.
Teacher note
Use this guide formatively. Select two criteria for a feedback lesson rather than all of them. Model the difference between a general comment (“make it better”) and a specific one (“the second paragraph names a technique but does not say what it makes the reader notice”).
This page is not an assessment instrument. It contains no scores, bands, or confidential marking material.