Grade 7 Example Essay for Paper 1 – Free Lesson for IB English Language & Literature

How to structure and plan a Paper 1 response for IB Language and Literature

This free lesson teaches IB English Language & Literature students how to effectively plan and structure in their Paper 1.

Students will be guided through planning a response using a horizontal planning method.

Then students will review a grade 7 exemplar response, unpicking what makes this essay so good and how it is meeting Criterion C and D in the mark scheme.

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Grade 7 Example Essay for Paper 1

Guiding Question: In what ways does the interplay between image, layout and language help the advert to achieve its purpose?

This print advertisement was published in the pages of Super Cat, a children’s comic book, aimed to achieve two primary purposes: to persuade its target audience of children and parents to purchase children’s toys while reflecting and reinforcing the prevailing gender stereotypes of the era. Although a modern audience might find aspects of this advert to be sexist, it reflects the contrasting expectations of boys and girls, offering distinct visions of play, identity, and aspiration for Americans in the 1950s. This essay will analyse the contrasting expectations of boys and girls, how the text uses gendered stereotypes to appeal to children, and how appeals to logos are utilised to convince parents, as the end-purchaser, to buy the toys.

Since this advert was published in the 1950s, contrasting expectations of boys and girls are prevalent throughout the text. The use of images is particularly telling: whilst the boys’ toy shows a photograph of a male child engaged and playing with his toy, no female child is present for the girls’ toy. This perpetuates gender stereotypes of men as active leaders and women as passive caretakers. Indeed, the girl is so passive in this advert as not to be seen at all and her toys remain in the box whilst the boys’ toys are seen in action. The use of language accentuates this effect, with the boys’ toy text being more directed at the male child and the girls’ toy being directed at her parent. For example, the boys’ coupon reads, “Rush the toy army to me”, using first person pronouns to insinuate it is the male child ordering, whereas the girls’ toy reads, “Make your little girl feel like a real Princess”. Here, the text is directed to the parent rather than the child, which is ironic since, in both cases, it is far more likely to be the parent who completes the purchase. Attitudes towards the two genders can also be seen in these quotations, with the verb “rush” having connotations of urgency and force, again suggesting that the boy is an active participant in this purchase. By contrast, the girl is called a “Princess”, which a modern audience may view as patronising and sexist, as it conjures an image of a girl in a castle with little power of her own. Nonetheless, this advert may have appealed to its original audience of younger children in the fifties for whom these gender stereotypes were the norm to aspire to.

Because of the binary way gender was viewed, the text must therefore attempt to appeal to two distinct target audiences: boys and girls. The secondary audience of this text is parents, but since this advert first appeared in a children’s comic, Super Cat, it is the children who first need to be inspired to badger their parents into purchasing the toy on their behalf. It is therefore more important to first consider how this text appeals to children. Once again, imagery appeals to boys and girls separately, with the cartoon of the military battle in action suggesting the excitement that can be had with plastic figurines. This would appeal to boys in the 1950s, for whom World War II would still be culturally significant and whose fathers may have served in the military, making this toy aspirational for many boys. Similarly, the images in the girl’s cartoon appeal to feminine ideals of the 1950s, depicting all the dolls in dresses, smiling and looking conventionally attractive. The use of copy similarly appeals to two distinct audiences: the girl’s copy is a prose paragraph filled with romantic imagery of “wonderful playthings” and “colorful costumes”, whereas the boy’s copy is extremely concise and contains lots of whitespace, simply utilising a list to demonstrate what precisely will be purchased. This suggests that the advertisers view boys as more pragmatic and numbers-orientated, while the girls are more focused on emotions. However, it is not only the boy’s advert that includes vital numerical information; the dolls advert also states the size of the dolls, quantities and pricing. This is perhaps to appeal to parents rather than their children, or to establish precisely what will be bought since the size of adverts is limited by appearing in a print advert compared to online.

The final purchaser of the products is parents; both adverts appeal to logos to secure sales. Benefits-orientated language is used to persuade the parents of the advantages of the toys, such as “watch [your daughter’s] face light up when she opens up the box”. This language focuses on the positive outcome of purchasing the dolls, thus appealing to logos as parents can directly see the positive outcome of their purchase. Similarly, the cost of both toys is considered value for money at “only” one dollar for the “complete set”, implying that no further purchase of dolls would be needed. Similarly, both titles are large, bold and clearly state numerical figures of both the quantity and the price of toys. This may be so that when children encourage parents to look at the advert, they will quickly see the vast quantity of items they could purchase cheaply. Finally, both adverts appeal to logos (and to a certain extent pathos) by suggesting the happiness and engagement their children will get from the toys. For the toy soldiers advert, the text uses triples (“fun to show, fun to trade, fun to collect”) to suggest how the toy will engage and excite the child. The girl’s toy states that the dolls will keep the child “busy for hours on end”. Likewise, the boy in the photograph is also playing alone and his toys are rigidly ordered, suggesting a sense of control and calm, which may appeal to busy parents who want to keep their child quiet and occupied. In conclusion, this 1957 print advertisement from Super Cat effectively targets both children and parents, albeit through the lens of prevalent gender stereotypes of its era. It appeals to children by tailoring imagery and language to their respective gendered interests, promising excitement and emotional fulfilment. Simultaneously, it entices parents by emphasising the toys’ value, cost-effectiveness, and promise to keep their children happily occupied. While this advertisement reflects the gender norms of 1950s America that a modern audience may find offensive, it serves as a historical artefact highlighting the evolving perceptions of gender roles in society and the changing landscape of advertising strategies.

In conclusion, this 1957 print advertisement from Super Cat effectively targets both children and parents, albeit through the lens of prevalent gender stereotypes of its era. It appeals to children by tailoring imagery and language to their respective gendered interests, promising excitement and emotional fulfilment. Simultaneously, it entices parents by emphasising the toys’ value, cost-effectiveness, and promise to keep their children happily occupied. While this advertisement reflects the gender norms of 1950s America that a modern audience may find offensive, it serves as a historical artefact highlighting the evolving perceptions of gender roles in society and the changing landscape of advertising strategies.

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This lesson is second in a series of lessons about analysing print adverts for IB English Paper 1.

Download the resources for the analysis and annotation lesson here: Annotating Print Adverts – Free Lesson for IB English Language & Literature – Taughtly!