Too Much Media: a Lesson in Advertising

Lesson Title

Too Much Media: A Lesson in Advertising.

Grades

4, 5, 6

Lesson Type

Standard Lesson

Learning Objectives

Critical Thinking, Digital Literacy,Media Literacy,Multimodal Literacy, Print Awareness

Themes

Social Studies

Keywords

Advertising Strategies, Media Literacy, Commercials, Video Camera, Audience, Persuade, Marketing,

Brief Description

Children are constantly bombarded with advertisements. This lesson teaches students about advertisement tactics and helps them to create an advertisement of their own.

Overview

To begin this unit students will be introduced to different methods of advertising used by the media today. They will work in small groups to sort and categorize different types of advertisements analyzing for content media format. Students will then complete a graphic organizer in order to determine the Text, Audience and Production of the advertisements. Students will be introduced to the advertising strategies or illusions used by companies in the media and through careful analysis of the advertisements students will determine which of the tactics were used by the company. Using the topic of those advertisements or choosing one of their own students will recreate an ad that demonstrates an awareness of media and advertising tactics through the use of video recording technology.

Featured Resources

Common Advertising Strategies Handout (also attached to end of lesson)

[ This handout highlights the specific strategies used by companies when adverting.

From Theory to Practice

Considine, D., Horton, J., & Moorman, G. (2009). Teaching and Reading the Millennial Generation Through Media Literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(6), 471-481. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

• Students today live in a world in which information is communicated in both print and non-print materials. Teaching them media literacy is more important now than ever before.
• Media Literacy is teaching students about media not simply using different forms of it in the classroom. It requires us to teach students how to analyze and evaluate all information. Teachers and schools must address the socials and commercial context of media messages.
• One media literacy strategy is the T.A.P model which stands for Text, Audience and Production. This strategy helps students to compare, contrast, critique and analyze texts in a media format.

Standards

1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12

Resources

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access
• LCD projector with screen
• Video cameras
• Video editing software
• Chart Paper

Printouts

• Common Advertising Strategies
• Advertising Strategies (double sided copy)
• T.A.P Paper
• Commercial Planning Form

Websites

Commercials for Students to Analyze

Nerf Commercial

McDonalds Commercial

Blockbuster Commercial

Nintendo DSI Commercial

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Commercial

Gap Commercial

Batman vs. Rubberneck

Estimated Lesson Time

5-6 60 minute sessions

Student Objectives

• Students will identify the strategies used by advertising and marketing companies to make commercials.
• Students will identify the elements of a persuasive paper.
• Students will learn how to evaluate and analyze the content of television commercials ads.

Preparation

• Collect a variety of advertisements. These can be from newspapers, magazines, posters, brochures and even TV commercials. Advertisements should also have a variety in their content (i.e. clothes, shoes, food, toys, places).
• Make number of copies needed for each student in your class for the following papers: Common Advertising Handout, Advertising Strategies Sort (double sided copy), Hidden Message Paper, T.A.P Paper, Commercial Planning Form
• Verify that the commercials listed under websites can be accessed through your school's server
• Gather video cameras

Instruction and Activities

Session 1

1. Set out a variety of advertisements into four groups placed around the room.
2. Introduce lesson to students by explaining that for the next couple of days they will be studying advertisements. Write "Advertisements are ______" on the board an allow students to discuss their responses in a small group.
3. Bring their attention back to the front of the room and begin soliciting answers from the group. Write these responses on a piece of chart paper, they will be revisited later.
4. Number students off into groups of four and direct their attention to the four groups of advertisements that was set out at the beginning of the lesson. Explain that they will sorting these advertisements into different groups and recording their answers onto paper. The way they sort the advertisements is totally up to them as a group. There is no right or wrong way to sort them. Ideally the advertisements could be sorted using two different criteria, either by medium (newspaper ad, magazine, commercial etc.) or by content (food, clothes, toys etc.).
5. Students break down into small groups and begin sorting their information recording their responses onto their column paper. After groups are finished with their first sort ask them to find a different way to sort their advertisements. Have students flip their paper over and record their responses for their second sort on the other side.
6. After all groups are finished sorting bring everyone back together and discuss what they discovered about the advertisements. Record student's responses down on chart paper. Guide student's discussions to include the different ways they sorted their advertisements. Some discussion should take place about the content and means by which the advertisements were communicated.
7. Homework assignment: each student should bring in an advertisement of their choice from home.

Session 2

1. Prepare session by setting up computers with different television commercials. Have students position their ads from home on different tables or desks throughout the room.
2. Begin lesson by reviewing the chart paper created on first day. Remind students of different mediums and topics in advertising.
3. Write these letters on the board T.A.P. leave sufficient room in between each letter to take notes underneath them. Begin the discussion with the T. Write and explain that T stands for text. For the purpose of this assignment, text is going to be the content of the advertisements. When students are released to the activity they are to write in this column what the companies are trying to sell. A stands for audience. Write audience on the board under the A. The audience is who the product is being sold to. Most of the advertisements in this activity are directed towards young children. However, students can be specific in stating that the advertisements are directed toward boys or girls, or even families. P stands for production. Write production on the board. For the purpose of this assignment, production is the medium by which the advertisement was created (i.e. TV commercial, newspaper, etc.) and the strategies it was created with (see Advertising Strategies Handout). Several strategies will be used in oneadvertisement. Encourage students to write all strategies used in advertisement.
4. Pass out T.A.P. paper. Explain to students that they will be moving throughout the room analyzing different advertisements for their text, audience, and production. They should look at 10 different advertisements. Five of which are the television commercials set up on the computers and the other five being the homework that their classmates brought into class.
5. Direct students' attention to the back of their paper to the Advertising Strategies Handout.These are the strategies they are to be used in the production section on the other side of their paper. Students should read these on their own. They will be discussed in more detail at the end of the lesson. The goal of this assignment is to allow students time to explore different advertisements.
6. Allow students the rest of the class time to analyze the different advertisements. Students should complete their T.A.P paper as they transition throughout the room.
7. Finish lesson by taking up students' papers.

Session 3

1. Prepare for lesson by setting up
2. Begin lesson by passing back to students' their papers.
3. Review with students what an advertisement is and what the letters in T.A.P. stand for.
4. Begin class discussion using what they did yesterday. Ask students to share anything they found interesting.
5. Ask students to look their paper entitled Advertising Strategies. Ask students to share anything they found interesting about it. Ask students to volunteer and read one of the strategies.
6. Display one of the seven different commercials that students previewed the day before. Allow students to view commercials. Ask students which of the strategies they saw used in the making of the commercial. Each commercial uses several different strategies. Discuss with students the impact that the different strategies had on them. For example the McDonald's commercial uses a young man who does a great job dancing to the song. What hidden message does that send to them? Does it mean that if they eat at McDonalds that they can dance that way too? The young man is also dressed in a real nice jumpsuit outfit. If they eat at McDonalds will they look nice like him too?
7. Continue displaying the rest of the commercials. Discuss with students the implications of each of them. What is the hidden message in each of the commercials that the company wants to come across to young people?
8. Finish the lesson by taking up the papers from the students.
9. Homework: Research an item that you would like to make a commercial for. Bring that item into class tomorrow.

Session 4

1. Begin class by reviewing some of the strategies used by companies to advertise their products. Pass strategy definitions back out to students.
2. Explain to students that their assignment for the next couple of days will be to create an advertisement for the item they brought to class. Students will plan and organize this advertisement and then video tape their own commercial.
3. Pass out Advertisement Planning Form.
4. Students are to fill out this form before they can begin videotaping their commercial.
5. First students should write the topic of their advertisement at the top of their paper. Then they need to decide on three of the strategies they want to use in creating their advertisement. Their role in completing this graphic organizer is to be the advertising company. Therefore their commercial will be written as if to deceive the public. If students want to create an advertisement on a basketball, they might want to dress in an Nike jumpsuit when shooting their commercial in order to create the impression that playing basketball allow you to wear nice clothing. A second strategy they might would use would be to display all of their friends having lots of fun, in order to create the impression that playing with that basketball creates happy people and lasting friendships. The third ploy or tactic they might use would be to have a great song playing in the background. This would leave the audience with a mood of wanting to go out and play ball and therefore purchase their product.
6. Allow students several minutes to engage in a Think-Pair-Share strategy with their classmates in which they think about their advertisement, pair up with an individual and then share their product and strategies. Students can engage in this process several times before they are expected to go back to their seat and begin working on their graphic organizer.
7. Students should continue to work on their sheet writing down their responses and planning for the props needed to complete their commercial. They may continue working on this project until the end of class. Students might choose the help of other individuals as actors in their commercial. Should this be the case then students need to collaborate with those individuals on what they need to bring and wear.
8. Homework: Finish graphic organizer and gather props needed to complete commercial.

Session 5 & 6

1. Prepare video cameras for class. The night before you need to make sure all cameras are fully charged and memory has been cleared for the new video footage.
2. Begin class by asking a few students to share some of their ideas for their commercials.
3. Before releasing students with their video camera, a short lesson should be conducted on the mechanics and functions of the camera.
4. Students should be allowed ample time to set up their props and begin planning their commercial.
5. Students may begin working on their recordings when they have demonstrated to you that their planning is complete. They should have a clear idea of the dialogue they are using as well as the actions that will be taking place.
6. After students have recorded their commercials they may begin loading their footage onto a computer with video editing software.
7. Using this software students may edit, adjust volume levels and add voice overs to complete their commercial.
8. To finish off the class students may share their commercials with the group.

Extensions

• As an extension of this activity students may write another advertisements using the opposite of all the strategies they learned in class. Their commercials would include all truth instead of the tainted truth included by advertising companies.
• Students might also choose to complete an advertisement using digital photographs either taken by them or by ones found online.

Student Assessment/Reflection

Name: ______

Topic______

Strategy1:

Strategy 2:

Strategy 3:

Props:

Plot:

Common Advertising Strategies

Produced by the Center for Media Literacy. Reprinted with permission,
by the Media Awareness Network.

1. Ideal Kids

The kids in commercials are often a little older and a little more perfect than the target audience of the ad. They are, in other words, role models for what the advertiser wants children in the target audience to think they want to be like. A commercial that is targeting eight year-olds, for instance, will show 11 or 12 year-old models playing with an eight year old's toy.

2. Heart Strings

Commercials often create an emotional ambience that draws you into the advertisement and makes you feel good. The McDonald's commercials featuring father and daughter eating out together, or the AT&T Reach Out and Touch Someone ads are good examples. We are more attracted by products that make us feel good.