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 Tommy Hilfiger clothing]. 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 |
Skechers. (2024, June). Skechers street Los Angeles: The uno: Julius Randle [Advertisement]. Rolling Stone, (1388), 7. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Skechers, 2024) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (Skechers, 2024, p. 7) |
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 |
Tommy Hilfiger. (2024, August). [Advertisement for Tommy Hilfiger clothing]. Vogue, 10-11. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Tommy Hilfiger, 2024) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (Tommy Hilfiger, 2024, p. 10-11) |
Name of Company That Owns the Product. (Year, Month Day Posted). Name of advertisement [Advertisement]. URL
Note: 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 |
Grey Hearts Denim. (2021, October 24). GHD x BBABC Vancouver pop-up [Advertisement]. https://youtu.be/2_5pvANzqQg?si=VFIZ-w8-d87pIvd2 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: (Grey Hearts Denim, 2021) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (Grey Hearts Denim, 2021) 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]. URL
| Example |
UPS. (19 June, 2023). UPS Canada small business – Indigenous Box [Advertisement]. https://youtu.be/-9_tmipQmzI?si=sHOQIHvyYJmrug5n Note: In the example above, the name of the business is included in the title of the video. Because business names count as proper nouns, the business title gets capitalized. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(User Name, Year) Example: (UPS, 2023) |
| In-Text Quote |
(User Name, Year) Example: (UPS, 2023) 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 |
StackTV. (2025, January 21). There's food…And then there's Flavour Network: Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars [Advertisement]. Station Street and Terminal Avenue, Vancouver, BC. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (StackTV, 2025) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Company Name, Year) Example: (StackTV, 2025) Note: Because billboards do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers, or section headings, this information is left out of the in-text citation. |