Images That Sell: 500 Ways to Create Ads

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Images That Sell reflects the trend in advertising toward less text and
more images. The book is an album of some 500 ads, from North America
and Europe, reproduced in color. The ads are tied together with a
slender thread of text that points out the symbolism and intended
association with the images. Babies suggest innocence. Forests imply
tranquility. Santa reminds us of Christmas. And so on, for 33 subject
areas including animals, children, death, the elderly, the family, and
sports.

Anyone contemplating the design and purchase of advertising will find
Dupont’s work a good starting point in that it is instant research. It
groups together in one handy package a wide variety of visuals as used
in ads, facilitating the process of image selection. Will a photo of a
cute toddler make your billboard effective or would the image of clean
water cascading over rocks do a better job for you? Does a duck or an
eagle or an ostrich speak to your customer? Is a snake or an eyeball
just the thing to sell your product?

How consumers respond to advertising images, what images attract the
most attention, and how the selection of the right image can make any
advertisement more persuasive are among the topics covered in the text.
The content is applicable to ads in any media, whether print,
electronic, or posters/billboards.