Authors
An author can be a person but can also be an organization, or company. These are called group or corporate authors. Most advertisements will have a corporate author such as an advertising agency or a company name.
Titles
Some advertisements may not have an identified title. If you are citing something with no identified title, write a description of the product/brand being advertised and place it in square brackets (e.g. [Advertisement for McDonald's coffee]. Put this description in brackets where you'd normally put the title.
Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Name of Company That Owns the Product. (Year, Month Day of issue which contains advertisement if known). Name of advertisement [Advertisement]. Name of Journal, Magazine or Newspaper, Volume(Issue) if known, page number advertisement is found on.
| Reference List Example |
BMW. (2011, June 4). Diesel reinvented [Advertisement]. Fictional Magazine, 7(1), 17. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (BMW, 2011) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (BMW, 2011, p. 17) |
Name of Company That Owns the Product. (Year, Month Day of issue which contains advertisement if known). [Advertisement for Name of Product being advertised]. Name of Journal, Magazine or Newspaper, Volume(Issue) if known, page number advertisement is found on.
| Reference List Example |
FedEx. (2011, May). [Advertisement for FedExCup]. Sample Magazine, 5(1), 30. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (FedEx, 2011) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (FedEx, 2011, p. 30) |
Name of Agency. (Year ad created if known or n.d. if no date given). Brand name: Title of advertisement [Advertisement]. Retrieved from AdForum database.
Note: The APA Manual (6th ed.) requires the URL of the database home page. Seneca Libraries suggests that the database name be used.
| Reference List Example |
Cole & Weber United. (n.d.) Nike: Diamond backs [Advertisement]. Retrieved from AdForum database. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Cole & Weber United, n.d.) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Cole & Weber United, n.d.) Note: Because advertisements in AdForum do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation. |
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