PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Advertisement

How to Cite an Advertisement in MLA 9

MLA 9 cites an ad by what it says and where it ran. Start with the ad's headline in quotation marks (or a description, like Advertisement for Wyeth, when it has none), then the magazine, website, or video site it appeared in, in italics, the date, and the page or URL: "‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’" Life, vol. 20, no. 3, 21 Jan. 1946, p. 107. The in-text citation is a short form of the headline: ("‘Johnny Can Walk!’").

The format

"Headline of the Ad." Magazine or Website, Day Mon. Year, p. # or URL.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 29, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Found the ad in a magazine or newspaper? Cite it as part of that publication, the way MLA does. Choose Magazine, then Magazine article and A single published article (or Newspaper for a newspaper ad). Leave the author empty, type the ad's headline in Article Title, and fill in the Magazine Name, the Publication Date, the Volume Number and Issue Number, and the page. PERRLA puts the headline in quotation marks and title case and starts the entry with it.

Found it on YouTube? Paste the video's link into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA fills in the channel, the title, the upload date, YouTube as the platform, and the URL, and the entry comes out with the title in quotation marks, YouTube in italics, and the channel after uploaded by.

For an ad that stands on its own, like a billboard, a poster, or a print ad posted on the advertiser's own website, choose Advertisement. Pick A physical ad or A digital ad, then type the headline in Main Ad Text, the date (for a billboard or poster, the day you saw it), the Location or the URL, and what kind of ad it is in Format (billboard, poster, pop-up). An online ad with no date of its own? Pick the day you viewed it in Retrieval Date. With no Main Ad Text, PERRLA starts the entry with Advertisement for and the Ad Sponsor. With a headline, PERRLA puts the Ad Sponsor in italics where MLA names the site the ad ran on, so fill it in only when the ad is on the advertiser's own site, like the CDC ad below.

Look up
Paste a YouTube link, get the reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU

"‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’" Life, vol. 20, no. 3, 21 Jan. 1946, p. 107.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Headline or description

Start with the ad's headline or main line of text, in quotation marks and title case, even when the ad prints it in all capitals. MLA's own ad examples never put the advertiser in the author spot, so the entry starts with what the ad says.

"Record Your Voice for Loved Ones While You Still Can."

If the headline is itself a quotation, keep its quotation marks as single ones inside your double ones: "‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’"

No headline? Describe the ad in plain text, with no quotation marks or italics: Advertisement for Wyeth. Citing several ads? Start each description with the brand, so each in-text citation is different: Wyeth advertisement.

2. Where it ran

Name the publication, site, or channel the ad appeared in, in italics, followed by a comma. That's the container. For a print ad, it's the magazine or newspaper. For a video ad, it's the video site, with the account that posted it after uploaded by. For an ad on a website, it's the website.

Life,

YouTube, uploaded by Google,

A billboard or poster you saw in person has no container. Skip to the date.

3. Volume and issue (magazines)

For a magazine that numbers its issues, add vol. and the volume number, then no. and the issue number, each followed by a comma.

vol. 20, no. 3,

4. Date

Give the date of the issue, the upload, or the post, written day, month, year, with months longer than four letters abbreviated. For a billboard or poster, give the day you saw it.

21 Jan. 1946,

For a video, use the date the copy you watched was posted, not the date the ad first aired. Google posted "Parisian Love" on YouTube in November 2009, months before it ran during the Super Bowl in February 2010.

5. Page, URL, or place

End with where readers can find the ad: p. and the page for print, the URL (without https://) for an ad online, or the place for a billboard or poster, then a period.

p. 107.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU.

6. Kind of ad (optional)

When the headline alone doesn't tell readers it's an ad, you can add what kind of ad it is as a final sentence: Advertisement, Pop-up ad, Billboard, or Print advertisement.

Print advertisement.

When the entry ends with an access date, the kind of ad follows it after a comma, in lowercase: Accessed 30 Oct. 2026, print advertisement.

Examples

A full-page 1946 ad from the drug company Wyeth in Life, about a boy walking again after polio and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The headline is printed as a quotation, so its quotation marks become single ones inside the title's double ones. The ad fills one page and the entry gives it, so the in-text citation needs no page number.

  • In-text citation("‘Johnny Can Walk!’")
  • Narrative citationWyeth's 1946 ad "‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’" …

A TV commercial posted on YouTube

Google's "Parisian Love" ad, told entirely through search boxes, which ran during the Super Bowl in February 2010. Cite the copy on Google's YouTube channel, with the date it was posted there. The time stamp points to a moment 41 seconds in.

  • In-text citation("Parisian Love" 00:00:41)
  • Narrative citationIn Google's ad "Parisian Love," … (00:00:41).

A print ad posted on the advertiser's website

A Tips From Former Smokers print ad featuring Terrie Hall, posted as a PDF on the CDC's Print Ads page. The CDC is both the advertiser and the website, so its name goes in italics as the site. Neither the ad nor the page gives the ad a date, so the entry goes straight to the URL and ends with the day you viewed it, followed by print advertisement, which tells readers what the headline is.

  • In-text citation("Record Your Voice")
  • Narrative citationThe CDC's print ad "Record Your Voice for Loved Ones While You Still Can" …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for an ad is the first thing in its Works Cited entry: a short form of the headline in quotation marks, or the first words of the description.

  • A headline: shorten it to the first few words, up to the first noun: ("Record Your Voice")
  • A headline that is a quotation: keep the single quotation marks inside the double ones: ("‘Johnny Can Walk!’")
  • A short headline: use all of it: ("Parisian Love")
  • A description: the first word or words, with no quotation marks. If several ads start with Advertisement for, start each description with the brand instead, so the citations differ: (Wyeth)
  • A moment in a video ad: add the time stamp in hours, minutes, and seconds, with no comma before it: ("Parisian Love" 00:00:41)
  • A one-page print ad: no page number, since the Works Cited entry already gives it.
  • Headline in your sentence: put only the time stamp in parentheses, or nothing: Wyeth's ad "‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’" urged readers to support the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

Common mistakes

  • Wyeth. "‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’" Life, ..."‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’" Life, ...MLA's ad examples don't put the advertiser in the author spot. Start with the headline, and name the company in your sentence.
  • "Parisian Love." YouTube, uploaded by Google, 7 Feb. 2010,"Parisian Love." YouTube, uploaded by Google, 19 Nov. 2009,Cite the copy you actually watched, with its own date. The YouTube copy takes its upload date; the Super Bowl airing can go in your sentence.
  • "RECORD YOUR VOICE FOR LOVED ONES WHILE YOU STILL CAN.""Record Your Voice for Loved Ones While You Still Can."Ads print headlines in capitals to grab attention. MLA puts every title in title case.
  • Advertisement for Wyeth. Life, 21 Jan. 1946, p. 107.Advertisement for Wyeth. Life, 21 Jan. 1946, p. 107.A description in place of a title takes no italics and no quotation marks. Only the publication's name is italic.
  • ("Record Your Voice," n.d.)("Record Your Voice")MLA in-text citations don't take a date or n.d. That's APA.

Quick checklist

  • The headline in quotation marks and title case, or a plain description
  • No company in the author spot
  • The magazine, website, or video site in italics
  • The date of the issue or upload, or the day you saw a billboard
  • p. and the page, the URL, or the place
  • The in-text citation keyed to the headline

Questions students ask

Who is the author of an advertisement in MLA?

Usually no one. MLA treats most ads as having no author, so the entry starts with the headline or a description. Name the company in your sentence, or start the description with the brand: Wyeth advertisement.

How do I cite a TV commercial in MLA 9?

Cite it where you saw it. If you watched it on TV, the MLA Style Center starts with a description, then the network and the date: GE refrigerator commercial. CBS, 10 Oct. 2019. If you watched it on YouTube, cite the YouTube copy: title, YouTube, uploaded by the channel, the upload date, and the URL.

How do I cite an ad in a magazine in MLA?

Treat it like a short piece in that magazine: the headline in quotation marks (or a description), the magazine in italics, the volume and issue if it has them, the date, and p. with the page. For example: "‘Johnny Can Walk! Johnny Can Walk!’" Life, vol. 20, no. 3, 21 Jan. 1946, p. 107.

What if the ad has no headline?

Describe it in place of a title, in plain text with no quotation marks or italics: Advertisement for Wyeth. Then add the rest of the entry as usual. Your in-text citation starts with the same words.

How do I cite a billboard or poster in MLA?

Give the headline or a description, the date you saw it, and where it is, then the kind of ad: Advertisement for School of Rock: The Musical. 29 Jan. 2017, Times Square, New York City. Billboard. That's the MLA Style Center's own example. A billboard has no container, so nothing goes in italics except a title inside the description.

Do I need an access date for an online ad?

MLA recommends one when the ad has no date of its own, like the CDC ad on this page. It goes at the end, before the kind of ad: Accessed 30 Oct. 2026, print advertisement. In PERRLA, pick the day you viewed the ad in Retrieval Date.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, descriptions in place of titles, containers), section 5.68 (dates of works seen in person) and sections 5.105–5.119 (supplemental elements like Billboard), as the MLA Style Center cites them, and sections 6.3–6.30 (in-text citations), plus the Style Center's posts on advertisements in print and online, commercials, telling apart several ads known by a description, a billboard's date, advertisements in a personal collection, videos on YouTube, uploaders of online works, shortening a title that begins with a quotation, and one-page sources in in-text citations. Example sources: the Wyeth ad on page 107 of Life, vol. 20, no. 3, 21 Jan. 1946, checked in the full issue on Google Books (the masthead gives the volume, number, and date, and the neighboring page prints its folio 106); the YouTube copy of "Parisian Love" and the CDC print ad PDF, as verified for the APA 7 page and re-checked October 29, 2026.

PERRLA builds an ad's Works Cited entry from its YouTube link or from the publication it ran in, with the headline in quotation marks and the container in italics.

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