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.
Hanging Indents:
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.
Hyperlinks:
It is acceptable for hyperlinks to be blue and underlined (live) or black without underlining.
All hyperlinks must include https://
Do not put a period after DOIs or hyperlinks.
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.
| 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.
| 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 Company That Owns the Product. (Year, Month Day Posted). Name of advertisement [Advertisement]. Site name. URL
Notes: This format will work if you are using a different site that hosts user-generated videos, such as TikTok. If you are citing an advertisement that has appeared at the beginning of another video, make sure to open the video advertisement in a new window to obtain the link for only the advertisement.
| Example |
Google Canada. (2017, October 16). Google Home Mini [Advertisement]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbW9pug1pE8 Note: In the example above, all words of the title are capitalized because the advertisement is the same as the product name and is treated as a proper noun. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Google Canada, 2017) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Google Canada, 2017) Note: Because videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation. |
User Name that Posted the Video. (Year, Month Day Posted). Name of video [Advertisement]. Site name. URL
Notes: This format will work if you are using a different site that hosts user-generated videos, such as TikTok. If you are citing an advertisement that has appeared at the beginning of another video, make sure to open the video advertisement in a new window to obtain the link for only the advertisement.
| Example |
TrendCrave. (2016, February 17). Top 10 best Super Bowl 50 commericals (2016 funniest ads) [Advertisement]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2c2mPpvcpw |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(User Name, Year) Example: (TrendCrave, 2016) |
| In-Text Quote |
(User Name, Year) Example: (TrendCrave, 2016) Note: Because videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings, this information is left out of the in-text citation. |
Name of Company that Owns the Product. (Year, Month Day Advertisement Viewed). Name of advertisement [Advertisement]. Location of Advertisement, City, Province, State or Country.
| Example |
Tim Hortons. (2018, September 26). Cheddar cheese bagel [Advertisement]. Main Street and 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Tim Hortons, 2018) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Tim Hortons, 2018) Note: Because billboards do not have page numbers, paragraph number or section headings, this information is left out of the in-text citation. |