To reach and influence an audience, the advertising translator must master the art and science of advertising copywriting, especially since the advertisement’s target audience and communication context might differ significantly from those of the source advertisement. As the cultural agent of an advertiser, the translator determines how every textual and paratextual component of the advertisement will undermine the communication process and make the required adjustments. To achieve this, the translator must do a double reading of the source ad in order to understand each communicatory issue and subsequently guide his process. First, the analytic reading corresponds to a rational decoding of the message, influenced by the translator’s knowledge and skills in advertising copywriting as well as his work environment, the available resources and the communication context. Secondly, the empathetic reading allows the translator to understand how the source text works from the emotional viewpoint and ultimately to recreate the desired effect, taking into account the identity of the target audience as well as the cultural aspects and the objective of the communication. This paper argues that these two readings, respectively rational and emotional, are essential to the equally rational and creative activity that is the adaptation of advertisements.