Non-Verbal Communication
And the Media

Objective:
• Analyze print advertisements for types of nonverbal communication.
• Analyze print advertisements for functions of nonverbal communication.

Directions:
Locate a print advertisement in the newspaper or a magazine that features a person, portion of a person or group of people. Analyze the visual imagery and respond to the following questions. Please type your responses on a separate sheet of paper, attaching your ad to your completed responses for submission.

Part One – The types of nonverbal communication

1. Analyze your ad and make an educated guess as to what nonverbal messages the posture/gestures (kinesics) of the people convey in your ad.
2. Explain how the overall physical attractiveness of the person/people selected as models for the ad affects the nonverbal message in your ad. Are the models ectomorphs, mesomorphs, or endomorphs? Why?
3. What can you infer from the facial expression(s) of the people in your ad?
4. How are proxemics depicted in your ad? If there is only one person in the ad, evaluate the proxemics of the person in the ad and you as the viewer.
5. Analyze your ad and make an educated guess as to what nonverbal touch messages the people convey in your ad. Are the people in your ad touching? If so, what does their touch convey? If not, does their lack of touch mean anything to you? If there is only a single person in the ad, are they touching themselves in a natural way, i.e. hands folded, leaning their chin on their hand, or in an unnatural or awkward position? Why?
6. What does the clothing (or lack of clothing) used by the model in your ad suggest? What accessories have been used, i.e. tattoos, body piercing, jewelry, to convey a message?
7. Explain how the overall physical environment affects the nonverbal message in the ad. Is the environment indoors, outdoors, professional, casual, intimate, etc.?

Part II – The functions of nonverbal communication
8. How do the written words in the ad relate to the nonverbal message conveyed in your ad? (Repetition, emphasis, complementation, contradiction, substitution, regulation)

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