[PDF] Advertising Unit - Portland Public Schools

3005_1Advertising_Unit.pdf Advertising Unit

Grade Nine Curriculum Guide

Version 1.0: September 2009

2 Table of Contents: Advertising Unit

Activity Page #

Introduction to Unit 3

Unit Template with Learning Plan 4

Student Progress Monitoring 7

Academic Vocabulary 9

Pre-assessment 10

Creating Media Awareness 12

Representations in Advertisements 24

The Audience of an Advertisement 35

How to Read an Ad 37

Techniques of Persuasion and Advertising Claims 41

Analysis of an Advertisement 50

Culminating Assessment: Analyzing and Creating an

Advertisement 52

Taking Action 58

Differentiation 61

Resources 62

3 Introduction Movies, television, video games, and advertisements take up an increasingly large part of the already crowded life of a typical teenager. These media outlets share a reliance on the visual image to influence the consumer. We have prepared students to tackle the written and spoken word, but what about their knowledge of visual texts that will help make them a wise consumer of the media? This unit introduces the ways that advertising -esteem, so we need to give students the tools to ages. This, however, is a unit for a Language Arts classroom, not a media studies program, so the real focus of the unit is on how well students can analyze and interpret, specifically with regard to audience and intended effect. The culminating assessment is to both analyze an advertisement for its persuasive techniques and to create a new ad that appeals to a different audience. This is a unit that may pay off double for us: make students effective readers and creators of visual texts AND to make them wise and careful consumers of the media.

John Golden

TOSA-Rice

jgolden@pps.k12.or.us

4 Advertising Unit Template

Stage 1: Desired Outcomes

Priority Standards:

9.02. Use the features of informational text to reach supported conclusions.

9.05 make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.06.

9.11. Develop a thesis, providing connections and insights.

9.11. Provide details/examples to support ideas developed into separate paragraphs.

9.17. Analyze advertisements, entertainment and news programs for how they affect targeted

audiences.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and film productions.

Understandings:

Advertisements use persuasive techniques to influence consumer choices. Advertisements create unrealistic representations The media should not be received passively. Essential Questions: What happens when we do not see ourselves represented fairly in the media? How do we become active and critical consumers of the media and advertising? How does the media and its advertising seek to influence us? Students will know: The main techniques that advertisements use to influence their consumer choices How audience affects language and visual choices in advertising and the media More about their own media habits

Students will be able to:

Deconstruct any advertisement by examining its language and visuals Create an advertisement that uses the techniques used by the media Explain the role that audience plays in the choices of advertisers.

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Culminating Assessment

(learning task) Other Evidence

Students write an analysis of a print

advertisement for its persuasive techniques, use of language, claims made, and effectiveness at influencing its audience. Then, create a new advertisement for that same product that is targeted to a different audience. Last, they will write a reflection on the differences between the two advertisements. 1. Advertising and media viewing logs

2. Practice paragraphs on advertising techniques

3. SOAPStone and found poems on nonfiction pieces

5 Stage 3: Learning Plan

Activity Title Priority Standards Page

Pre-Assessment 9.05

supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.11. Provide details/examples to support ideas developed

into separate paragraphs.

9.17. Analyze advertisements, entertainment and news

programs for how they affect targeted audiences.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and

film productions.

Creating Media

Awareness 9.02. Use the features of informational text to reach supported conclusions.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and

film productions.

Representations in

Advertisements 9.02. Use the features of informational text to reach supported conclusions. 9.05 supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.06.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and

film productions.

The Audience of an

Advertisement 9.17. Analyze advertisements, entertainment and news programs for how they affect targeted audiences.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and

film productions. How to Read an Ad 9.02. Use the features of informational text to reach supported conclusions. 9.05 supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.06.

Techniques of

Persuasion and

Advertising Claims

9.02. Use the features of informational text to reach

supported conclusions. 9.05 supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.17. Analyze advertisements, entertainment and news

programs for how they affect targeted audiences.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and

6

Activity Title Priority Standards Page

film productions.

Analysis of an

Advertisement 9.05

supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.11. Develop a thesis, providing connections and insights.

9.11. Provide details/examples to support ideas developed

into separate paragraphs.

9.17. Analyze advertisements, entertainment and news

programs for how they affect targeted audiences.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and

film productions.

Culminating

Assessment:

Analyzing and

Creating an

Advertisement 9.06.

9.11. Develop a thesis, providing connections and insights.

9.11. Provide details/examples to support ideas developed

into separate paragraphs.

9.17. Analyze advertisements, entertainment and news

programs for how they affect targeted audiences.

9.18. Make informed judgments about television, radio, and

film productions. Student Progress Monitoring: Advertising Unit

Student 9.05 Inf

unstated ideas, analyzing evidence that supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.11. Provide

details/examples to support ideas developed into separate paragraphs.

9.17. Analyze

advertisements, entertainment and news programs for how they affect targeted audiences

9.18. Make informed

judgments about television, radio, and film productions. E M D n/e E M D n/e E M D n/e E M D n/e E M D n/e 8

Student 9.05 Inf

unstated ideas, analyzing evidence that supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

9.11. Provide

details/examples to support ideas developed into separate paragraphs.

9.17. Analyze

advertisements, entertainment and news programs for how they affect targeted audiences

9.18. Make informed

judgments about television, radio, and film productions. E M D n/e E M D n/e E M D n/e E M D n/e E M D n/e Academic Vocabulary The vocabulary used extensively in this unit:

Advertisements

Analysis

Audience

Headline

Layout design

Media

Persuasion

Slogan

Thesis statement

Topic sentences

10 Pre-assessment for Advertising Unit

Time: one class period

Objective:

advertisers and how they can determine and analyze the intended audience for advertisements. Materials: Locate 5-7 print advertisements. Ideally, they would be color, full-page ads.

Post these ads on the walls around the room.

Steps:

1. Have students take out two blank pieces of paper; they should label one as

2. ad closely, and take notes on what the visuals and the text in the ads.

3. Next, ask them to choose ONE of the ads and respond to the following prompt on them to write a topic sentence and to include support for that topic sentence.

4. When you assess their responses, consider two separate topics: how well they can interpret the advertisement and how well they can write about it. Use the guide on the next page, and be sure that students have an opportunity to reflect for themselves on how well they did. Also, after students have been exposed to and have had an opportunity to practice with advertising analysis, you might want to return to this pre-assessment by re-viewing the ads, and asking students to revise their responses.

11 Scoring Guide for Advertising Unit Pre-Assessment

Priority

Standard 6-5 4-3 2-1

9.05 Infer an

ideas, analyzing evidence that supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

Makes an

exceptionally clear analysis about how the advertisement achieves its purpose in persuading an

audience. Identifies that the inferred purpose of the advertisement is to persuade, but the analysis of the techniques used to persuade lead to a somewhat simplistic

conclusion.

At this point the

response is mainly a description of the ad.

There is not an

analysis yet nor is there a reasonable inference made about the ad.

9.11. Provide

details/examples to support ideas developed into separate paragraphs.

Even in this short

response there are several effective examples offered to support the topic sentence. The examples are fully explained.

The response

includes appropriate, if somewhat limited, examples from the advertisement. The examples may not be fully explained at

this point. At this point, the response does not include any specific examples from the advertisement to

support the topic sentence.

9.17. Analyze

advertisements, entertainment and news programs for how they affect targeted

audiences The targeted audience of the ad is clearly identified and thoroughly analyzed by examining language and visual choices made in the ad. A possible audience of the advertisement of the ad is identified, though the analysis of the language and visual choices may be somewhat limited at this point. There is little or no mention of the intended audience of the advertisement at this point and no analysis of the language or visual choices.

12 Creating Media Awareness

Materials You and the Media survey

Various media logs

Purpose To recognize media viewing habits

To identify the role and number of advertisements in

Steps

1. Students should fill out the Before Reading column in the You and the Media survey to activate prior knowledge.

2. As they underline any statistics that relate to the questions they

answered on their survey. Direct them to put stars next to any statistic that seems particularly surprising or

interesting.

3. When they finish reading, students should return to the survey and fill in the After Reading column.

4. Part 2 of the survey page asks students to examine how words can be expressed in visual terms. Students should then try rewriting the article transforming the text into a graph or a chart.

5. At the beginning of this unit, students were asked to begin keeping a log of their media viewing habits. Ask students to return to that log and compile their results on the graphic organizer provided. Students

should create charts, diagrams, or graphs to express in visual terms some aspect of their media viewing

habits.

6. The last page in this series of activities asks students to observe the advertisements that exist all around

them in school and to keep track of memorable ads they see during the course of these activities. After

students have observed ads in school, ask them to discuss the type of ads they see, where the ads appear,

and why ads appear in particular places (the athletic field or the cafeteria, for example). How does this ad

compare with the types and locations of ads in other public places? How does the marketing of ads differ

in schools from marketing in other public places where they appear?

13 Creating Media Awareness

7. This section could be concluded with an informal class debate in which students are either placed in or

allowed to choose a group that answers in the affirmative or the negative one or more of the following

compelling questions: Should ads be allowed in school? Should soft drink companies be allowed to sponsor school sports? Does watching too much TV hurt children? Do advertisements really influence our purchases?

Once students are in an affirmative or negative group, they compose opening statements to defend their position. Each side shares its opening statement. Each side then presents its main points, followed by students have prior experience with debate, this activity has the potential to be used as practice for a formal debate.

14 Creating Media Awareness Part One

Before reading the article, complete the center column.

Question Before Reading After Reading

How many billions of dollars do you think the advertising industry spends every year? What types of products do you think are advertised the most to children? How much money do you think children aged 4 to 12 spend per year? About how many advertisements do you think a typical child sees every day? About how many hours do you think children spend watching TV every day, on average? What percentage of children do you think have a TV in their rooms?

15 Creating Media Awareness Part Two

1. Re-

expressed in visual form as well as in written form. As a chart, it might look like this:

Dollars Spent

by Children (in Billions) 40
17.1 4.2 2.2

Year 1968 1984 1994 2002

2. Choose any statistic from the article and rewrite it in visual terms as above. You may use a bar graph, a pie chart, a diagram, or any other visual representation.

16 Creating Media Awareness

Just the Facts About Advertising and Marketing to Children by Betsy Taylor

Advertising Expenditures Spiral Upward

In 2001 U.S. advertising expenditures topped $230 billion, more than doubling the $105.97 billion spent in 1980. (1)

Given that the 2000 Census reports 105 million households in America, this means that advertisers spend an average of $2,190 per year to reach one household. (2)

Ad Industry Spends Billions to Target Kids

Marion Nestle, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University, estimates that $13 billion a year is spent marketing to American children by

food and drink industries alone. Food advertising makes up about half of all advertising aimed at kids. (3) -minute in-classroom broadcast, featuring 2 minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of news, is compulsory on 90% of the school days in 80% of the classrooms in 40% of U.S. middle and high schools. Companies pay up to $195,000 for a 30-second ad, knowing that they have a captive audience of 8 million students in 12,000 classrooms across the country. (4) Little Big Spenders Children and Teen Spending Skyrockets C tripled in the 1990s. Kids 412 spent $2.2 billion in 1968, and $4.2 billion in 1984. By 1994 the figure climbed to $17.1 billion, and by 2002 their spending excee direct buying power is expected to exceed $51.8 billion by 2006. (5) Older kids, 1219, spent a record $155 billion of their own money in 2001, (6) up from $63 billion just four years earlier. (7) Kids Influ Grow

figure increased ten-fold to $50 billion. (8) By 1997 it had tripled to $188 billion. Kids marketing expert James McNeal estimates that by 2000, children 12 and under influenced family purchases to the tune of $500 billion. (9)

17 Kids Are Glued to the Tube and Bombarded by Commercials

that works out to at least 55 commercials per day. (10) Children spend a daily average of 4 hours and 40 minutes in front of a screen of some kind two and a half hours of which are watching television. (11) 47% of children have a television set in their bedroom. (12)

Creating Brand-Conscious Babies

- forming mental images of corporate logos and mascots. (13) as age two. (14)

At three years of age, before they can read, one out of five American children are already making specific requests for brand-name products. (15)

Experts say a lifetime customer may be worth $100,000 to a r

What Do Kids Really Want?

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, children who use the most media tend to be the least contented. (17)

family, a clean environment, a world where people treat each other with respect, a chance to see lost loved ones, help for suffering people, health, and time to play.

Footnotes

(1) McCann-

2001 (www.mccann.com/insight/bobcoen.html. Accessed 5/8/02).

(2) Ibid., and U.S. Census reports. (3)

DecadeThe Food Institute Report, April 15, 2002.

(4) Center for Commercial- www.commercialfree.org/channelone.html. Accessed 6/5/02 (5) James McNeal, The Kid, Ithaca: Paramount Market Publishing, Inc., 1999, and The U.S. Kids Market, a 2002 report from Packaged Facts available at MarketResearch.com (6) (www.mediaandthefamily.org/research/fact/childadv.shtml. Accessed 5/8/02). (7) American Demographics, November 1995. (8) American Demographics, April 1998. (9) Kim Campbell and Kent Davis-Christian Science Monitor,

September 18, 2000.

(10) www.aap.org/family/tv1.htm

Accessed 5/9/02).

18 (11)

http://www.appcpenn.org/reports/2000/ (12) Ibid. (13) James McNeal and Chyon-American Demographics, June 1993, pp 3439. (14) , June 2000. (15) Dream, 1999. www.newdream.org/campaign/kids/press-release.html (16) James McNeal and Chyon-American Demographics, June 1993. (17) www.kff.org/content/1999/1535.

19 Creating Media Awareness During this unit, you will monitor your interactions with the media. Try your best to estimate the

amount of time you spend with each medium. Medium Week One Week Two Week Three Total Hours

Television

Films

(in theaters on at home)

Radio

(not an I-pod)

Magazines

Newspaper

Facebook,

Myspace, etc.

Other Internet

Facebook,

Myspace, etc.

Media Total

Hours

20 Creating Media Awareness

Return to the media log that you started at the beginning of this unit. Tabulate your results below.

Medium

Hours per Day

You A Classmate Class Average National Average

Television

Radio

Internet

Magazines

Movies

Total Hours

21 Creating Media Awareness

Create a bar graph that compares your viewing habits with that of another student, the class, or the national average.

Total Hours with Media

Me Classmate Class average National average Create a pie chart that identifies the individual components of your media interactions.

22 Creating Media Awareness

Log 1: Memorable Ads Pay attention to advertisements that you see or hear on TV, on the Web, in magazines, or on the radio. Use the space below to keep track of ads that you think are effective.

Product Where Seen Describe Ad

23 Log 2: Ads in School

Look around the school and put a mark every time you see a particular type of advertisement.

Total each type before the next class period.

Ad Type You See Total Number Where Seen

Corporate logos on hats or shirts

Ads for food or beverage products

Ads for computers or electronics

Ads for school rings, yearbooks, etc.

Ads for movies, CDs, etc.

Other types of ads

24 Representations in Advertisements

Materials

Various print ads Purpose To recognize stereotypical representations in advertisements To understand the effects of these representations on themselves and others

Steps

1. Assign students to bring to class a one-page print ad from a newspaper or magazine that features a man or

a woman. Post the ads around the room. As students move around the room looking at the ads, have them

complete the chart that identifies features of their portrayal.

2. Before they read, students should be directed to skim thr

As they scan the text, students should underline all the questions that are asked in the article. Before they

read, have students think-pair-share one of the questions that they underlined in the text. Then direct

students to highlight each of the section headings and to write a prediction of what they believe this article

will be about.

3. As they read, students should complete the chart on the following page, which asks them to describe the representation of males, females, teenagers, and Americans in advertising, to identify the effects of these

representations, and to support their analysis with a quote from the text.

4. Before moving on, you should return to the ads that have been posted around the room; have students discuss in groups whether what the author of the article says is true in relation to the ads featured in the

room.

5. Before reading the next article have students activate their prior

knowledge by thinking abou

toys? Do they feel that they were affected by these toys in any way? What about Barbie dolls? What

prior to reading the article.

6. As they read, ask students to underline the name of a toy and to write in the margin what negative

effect that toy might have on a child.

7. After they read, ask students to complete a SOAPSTone for this article and to write a paragraph that

analyzes the tone and purpose of the article.

8. Next, have students craft a quickwrite about how the media portrays teenagers. How are they represented on TV, in commercials, and in other media? How do they feel about this representation? Is it accurate?

9. 25

10. Students will chunk the text prior to reading by numbering the paragraphs of the text: 10 paragraphs.

11. Ask students to paraphrase what the author is saying at various places:

After the fourth paragraph After the fifth paragraph After the seventh paragraph At the end of the piece

12. The final step in this series is to ask students to write a frame poem

26 Representations in Advertisements As you look at each of the advertisements, write down words and phrases that describe how men and women are portrayed in the ads.

Men Women

representations in advertising and the effect of them. Be sure to find a quote from the article that

supports your summary. How Represented? Effect Quote

Females

Males

Teenagers

Americans

27

The Price of Happiness: Advertising and Image

Center for the Study of Commercialism

Do advertisements influence our self-image and our self-esteem? Some critics accuse marketers of systematically creating anxiety, promoting envy, and fostering

feelings of inadequacy and insecurity to sell us their products. Marketers respond that advertising

does nothing more than mirror soc people to switch brands. At the very worst, they say, it bores or annoys. Of course, some ads provide information useful to consumers. And advertising clearly plays a valid

role in an economy based on a system of free enterprise. The question is not whether advertising is

valid; clearly, it is. The concern discussed here is the relationship between the images presented in ads and our sense of self. Can ads influence what we perceive as valid roles for ourselves in our society? And can our self-image and self-esteem be influenced by advertising?

What are the images that ads present? Everywhere we turn, advertisements tell us what it means to be

a desirable man or woman. Ads paint limited images of what men and women can be. Because ads are everywhere in our society, these limited images sink into our conscious and unconscious minds. In this way, ads help limit our understanding of our worth and our full potential.

Ads tend to present women in limited roles. Girls and women in ads show concern about their bodies,

their clothes, their homes and the need to attract a boy or man. Seldom are women shown in work

settings, business roles, or positions of responsibility and authority. Our society recognizes many

image of beauty. The advertising industry favors models with facial features that look Anglo, even if

the model is Black or Hispanic. Ads also present a very thin body type as though it were the most common or most desirable body type. Researchers have found that girls and women who work as models weigh 23% less than the average female their age. And the hips of an average department store mannequin measure six inches less than that of the average young woman. Girls, women, boys, and men seeing these commercial images may be influenced to think of an ultra- thin female body as more normal or desirable than one of average weight. The extreme preoccupation

with weight fostered by advertising images is reflected in the fact that 80% of 10-year-old girls report

having dieted and that eight million American women suffer from anorexia or bulimia, two potentially

life-threatening eating disorders.

In reality, many different kinds of facial features and body types are beautiful. Besides, the flawless

artists, photographers,

and photo retouchers. Each image is carefully worked over. Blemishes, wrinkles, and stray hairs are

airbrushed away. Teeth and eyeballs are bleached white. In some cases, the picture you see is actually made of several photos. The face of one model may be combined with the body of a second model and the legs of a third. So many of the pictures we see are artificial, manufactured images. What happens when a girl or 28
woman compares her real self with this narrow, unreal image of

unattractive. When her self-image suffers, often her self-esteem is damaged too. She then looks for

ways to improve her image and self-esteem. do not present as narrow an imaginary physical ideal as do ads targeting girls and women, they still present a very limited view of masculinity. For girls and women, body image is emphasized in most ads. For boys and men, the image emphasized is an image of attitude. Boys and young men in ads tend to have an aura of power, physical strength, confidence, dominance, and detachment. The implied message for the viewer is that this is the way to be cool, this is the way a young man should act. The male image shown in ads almost never includes such traits as sensitivity, vulnerability, or compassion. This may discourage boys and men from displaying these natural and desirable human The actors in ads tend to be handsome, with clear complexions and hair that is perfectly combed or perfectly windblown. They are also almost always athletic. Physical or even sexual prowess is suggested in scenes of physically challenging, dangerous, or aggressive sports. The self-image of boys and men who do not exhibit these traits for example, who have normal complexions, are not

about oneself, whether related to appearance or anything else, can be followed by lower self-esteem.

Ads offer to see a new self-image.

Of course, the ads that injure our self-image and self- to sell a product that will solve o tell them to buy so lved in marketing, Charles Many commonly accepted ideas about appearance for example, that skin should be blemish free

and teeth bright white are not absolute truths. These expectations were artificially created over a

period of years by those who wanted to sell certain kinds of products and promoted the idea that we needed those products if our physical appearance was to be acceptable. ook at this emphasis on appearance.

Ads tend to convey the idea that appearance is all-important. They teach us to be self-conscious about

how we look. When we grow up surrounded by ads, intense self-scrutiny may seem normal. Of course, all cultures have their own ideas about the traits that make a boy or man and a girl or

woman attractive. Often these ideas are very, very different than our own. Rather, it is the level of

concern with physical appearance that makes modern Americans unique. The intense concern with

appearance that is so common in our culture has not been the norm in most cultures. It is an artificial

concern that we have acquired from living immersed in a society dominated by commercialism. After you have read this article, complete the following SOAPSTone. 29
Speaker: ________________________________________________ Occasion: ______________________________________________ Audience: ______________________________________________ Purpose: _______________________________________________ Subject: ________________________________________________ Tone: __________________________________________________ Now, choose either Purpose or Tone and write a strong topic sentence that identifies the purpose

or tone of the article. Then, write a paragraph that supports that statement and which uses at least

two direct quotations from the article.

30

as Toys Get More Sensitive by Lynn Smith

Los Angeles Times

-

powers derived from the melanin in their skin. Ballerina dolls with hearing aids. Mommy dolls with

briefcases.

But few would have guessed that the new leader in the toy correctness movement would be that bottle-blond

bombshell in a box, that icon of frilly femininity, that silver-gowned, high heeled recreational shopper that

Barbie.

Mattel toys surprised many observers recently by caving in to the American Association of University

-largest toymaker, change the talking computer chip, it also invited the AAUW to -selling doll.

The episode marks a new plateau for political correctness, bringing it from the shadows of small interest

groups to the toy shelves of little girls everywhere. g, that means people in America are

The decision also represents a victory for those who view toys as powerful tools in shaping sensitive young

psyches. -Esteem Toys, a company in

Woodbury, Minn., that ha

Her new Math consciousness notwithstanding, Barbie has many critics. Beverly Hills psychiatrist Carole

Lieberman said that Barbie should be sold with a warning label. Some of her patients with eating and

shopping disorders played with Barbies and have talked about wanting to be like Barbie, she said. images by appearing in

astronaut and business personas. Last year, the Year of the Woman, a Barbie ran for president albeit in a

sparkling red, white, and blue ball gown. In the last few years, major manufacturers have joined independent toymakers in t 31

wage war against polluters. Mattel and others have produced lines of ethnically correct dolls, in various

shades with more realistic facial features. corn rows or straightened.

America.

More to the point, these manufacturers also hope to tap into the spending power of growing African

American and Latino populat

The toy correctness movement has had a mixed history of success. Although some protestors have persuaded

sellers.

For the most part, message toys are geared to parents, not to children, and most environmental and gender-

year. It is not because the doll is unpopular, she insists, nor because Mattel has a larger advertising budget.

urse of the universe is not to raise children to believe they are not valuable unless they have an 18-

On the other hand, outraged customers have had some victories. Protestors, for example, convinced toy

manufacturers to pull the Tramp, a homeless man who appeared in a line of Dick Tracy dolls, and Nomad,

he might accomplish in its boardrooms. would be a powerful message. with goo 32

To Be Real?

Gabrielle Turner

At times I feel as if I am walking an invisible fence. At any moment I might fall off to one side or the

other and lose my personality forever. Right now I am unsure of what it is to be a woman. And it seems I have nowhere to turn for answers. When I look at the television, I see images of women too beautiful to touch. These women are look so thin that I

wonder how they support their bodies. Yet their smiles earn them thousands of dollars. I never see

these women with a frown or a worried look on their faces. I wonder if they have any problems. At the other end of the spectrum I see the women of my own culture, the women I grew up with. I admire these tough, determined women, many of whom are single parents and sole providers, for

keeping themselves and their families together. I am in love with the image of the strong woman who

takes care of her own. This woman does not look dainty or feminine, but has the signs of hard work and worry etched on her

The only problem is that I am an American, part of a society that does not value these women. While

a model who is killed makes the front page of the newspaper, a poor woman or working mother se dismissed when I die. I want people to remember me.

Why do I take all of this so personally? I am fat or heavy, or overweight, or whatever the hell you

want to call it. Because of this I have been treated like I was nothing, unworthy of kindness or care.

was fat. There were always the seemingly innocent remarks about losing weight, the little putdowns here and there. And then there were the times I was told I was an embarrassment to be seen with.

When I realize that my physical appearance is keeping people from really listening to me or taking me

seriously, I start to feel oppressed. Then I start thinking about the larger forms of this oppression. As

a woman, I make less than my male counterpart in a white or blue collar job. With the exception of a

few company vice presidents here and there, I see that the average American woman can make more modeling or stripping than she could in a job where she uses her mind instead of her body. Everywhere I turn I hear that a woman is only as good as she looks. Everywhere I turn I see more woman. Then I want to run back to the safety of my own culture a culture where strong women are revered

and appreciated. But this culture is disappearing as it gives in to the American ideal. No longer is the

African American woman with the few extra pounds considered a pretty lady

lazy and ignorant. Even a culture that used to pride itself on its full-hipped women can fall victim to

the American ideal of skin and bones. 33
oppression of women, but at the end of the day, people will still judge me. They will criticize my

weight and my face. They will look at my braces and laugh. And I will keep trying to change myself

y closed doors when I look the way I do. By focusing on how women look instead of how we feel and think, so much of the media, and in turn

society, belittle our problems and silence our voices. By making us objects of beauty, our spines and

our souls are taken away. Gabrielle Turner is a first-year college student from San Francisco who writes for YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people produced by Pacific News Service.

34 es that you underlined. With

subject. A few sentence starters have been provided for you. Be sure that the majority of your lines come directly from the text. I am walking an invisible fence____________________________________________ I am like _____________________________________________________________ I believe _____________________________________________________________ I see ________________________________________________________________ The media ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ I am ________________________________________________________________ How do you feel that that your age group is represented in the media? What are some words or phrases that describe your feelings about your representation? Take some of the words that you used above and reconstruct them into a poem about your feelings concerning the media. Use the template above if you find it helpful.

35 The Audience of an Ad

Materials Various print and TV ads

Purpose To identify the main audience of an ad by looking at its elements To recognize how an ad targets a particular audience

Steps

1. Ask students to look back at an ad that they examined in the previous activity and ask them to identify the

target audience for the product being advertised. Ask students how we determine the audience for an ad.

2. Next, hand out one print ad to each pair of students (if you have a TV/VCR, one group could look at a TV ad) and direct them to do a close reading of the ad and complete the questions about audience on the Student Page.

3. Afterward, students should be able to write a strong topic sentence that identifies the audience for their ad.

4. Ask students to imagine a different audience for their product. The product must remain the same but since the audience changes, what else in the ad would change? What would remain the same?

36 The Audience of an Ad One of the most important elements of an advertisement is that it needs to reach its target audience; if it does not, it has failed in its goal. The goal of a media-literate person is to be able to

identify that intended audience. Part 1: Look at the advertisement that your teacher has provided and answer the following questions in order to determine the audience for this ad:

1. What is the product that is being advertised? __________________________

2. In general, this product is mainly used by male female either.

3. The average age of people who use this product is probably ____________.

4. The apparent age of the people in the ad (if they are present) ___________.

5. The gender of those in the ad (if they are present) is male female both.

6. Identify the setting of this ad (outdoors, office, classroom, etc.). ____________________

7. Briefly describe the action in the ad. ____________________________

8. Describe people you know who do the actions identified above. _________________________________________________________________.

9. Read the written part of the ad. Describe the language used as easy medium difficulty complex.

10. What is the racial or cultural group shown in this ad? ___________________________

Part 2: Write a statement about the audience for this advertisement. Part 3: Imagine that this ad were created for a different audience. Describe the new audience. What would be different about this ad? What would remain the same? Why?

37 How to Read an Ad

Materials Various ads

Purpose To identify the main elements of an advertisement To explain the role that each element plays in persuading an audience

Steps

1. Provide groups of students with a sample print advertisement from a newspaper, magazine, or TV. They should describe their initial reaction to the ad in Part 1. Then, in Part 2, students should look over the

students should be directed to think of examples they recall.

2. Students should return to their ad and do a close reading of the ad. One member of the group should keep

group to assign a reader to share their analysis.

3. As a follow-up activity, students may be asked to locate their own examples and record their individual

responses to the procedure for reading a print advertisement.

38 How to Read an Ad Part 1: Look over the advertisement that your teacher has provided.

1. What are some of the first things that you notice about it? Is it funny, clever, creative?

2. Where is your eye drawn first?

3. Would you buy this product based on this ad? Why or why not?

Part 2: Put your ad aside for a few moments. Read through the following descriptions of the main elements that you should think about when looking at an advertisement. There is space between descriptions for you to write what you recall from ads you have seen recently. slogan carefully. Does it relate to the product at all or is it promoting a lifestyle that can come from this product? Find the product itself in the advertisement. Is it there at all? How prominently is it featured?

Is the product actually being used?

Read the copy (the text) of the ad. What is it discussing? Is it relevant to the product?

39 Locate the corporate logo, slogan, or other designation that lets you know what company sells

this product. How prominently is it featured? Why? Try to determine the plot of the scene depicted in the ad. Who are the characters, what are they doing, and what is probably going to happen next? Identify the audience for this ad. How do you know this? What is the representation of males, females, and/or cultural or age groups? What evidence leads you to this conclusion? layout an attributes meant to force your eye to look at certain parts of the ad? Why? How are lighting, framing, angles, or other cinematic techniques used? What is their effect?

40 Part 3: Look closely at an ad for the various elements listed.

Product: ______________________

Slogan Product Copy Logo

Audience Representations Layout/Cinematic

Elements

Part 4: Write a paragraph with a clear topic sentence that explains two of the elements listed above. Be sure to have evidence from the ad itself for what you say.

41 Techniques of Persuasion and Advertising Claims

Materials Various ads

Purpose To identify and recognize elements of persuasion and claims made by advertisers To understand the effects of persuasive techniques on an audience

Steps

1. As a way of accessing prior knowledge, have students brainstorm ways that advertisers try to influence

consumer choices.

2. Direct students to chunk the article

after every two paragraphs. As they read, students should answer the following question in the margin:

How do advertisers persuade us to buy?

3. Students should then read about the most common persuasive techniques and claims that advertisers use to persuade us. After each type of technique or claim, there is space for students to write an example from an

ad they have seen recently. It would be helpful to place students into small groups and allow them to

collaborate as they complete this section of the activity.

4. Next, select an object for students to sell in a commercial. Choose a non-glamorous object such as garbage

bags, garden hose, lint-remover, or something similar.

5. Allow students to work in small groups to create a two- to three-minute dramatization of a commercial

utilizing three or more of the persuasive techniques and advertising claims discussed in these activities.

42 Techniques of Persuasion and Advertising Claims

Techniques of Persuasion of Advertisers

While experts argue about new methods, they still rely mainly on basic appeals that have proved successful over the years. These appeals offer the hope of more money and better jobs, security

against the hazards of old age and illness, popularity and personal prestige, praise from others, more

comfort, increased enjoyment, social advancement, improved appearance, and better health. The

modern advertiser stresses not the product but the benefits that may be enjoyed by purchasers. Thus,

the advertiser purveys not cosmetics but the expectation of new beauty, allure, and hope. To attract the

prospective buyer of automobiles, the manufacturer may stress not only the mechanical attributes of the car but also the excitement, comfort, and prestige it may bring the buyer. The many techniques of persuasion are circumscribed only by the ingenuity of the creative mind, by

the limits of the various channels of communications, by certain legal restrictions, and by standards

self-imposed by the advertising industry. One fundamental technique, apparent in the earliest applications of advertising and still basic in the most modern procedures, is repetition. A typical

national advertiser captures the attention of prospective customers by repeated appeals to buy. It is not

unusual for a person to hear sales talks on radio and television, see advertisements for the same product in a local newspaper, receive additional reminders in various national magazines, and be confronted with a poster, counter card, or display on entering a store. Another basic persuader is the trademark. Manufacturers have spent millions to establish their trademarks as symbols of reliability and value. A trademark is useless unless the manufacturer sets

and maintains high standards of quality, but once consumers gain confidence in it, the owner can use

it as a persuader, that is, as a device to reassure customers that all products bearing this symbol are

reliable. The trademark is especially useful when the manufacturer introduces a new item to an existing line of goods. Price appeal probably motivates more decisions to buy than any other appeal, and the magic words sale and bargain are directed at consumers with great frequency. Closely allied to these plain and -money contest, for One cannot overlook the role that sex and sexuality plays in all advertising. Consumers male and female are drawn to images of beauty, perhaps unconsciously equating themselves with the sexualized model or actress. We cannot, of course, measure up to them in beauty or sexiness, but maybe we could if we buy the same product as they use. Women in various stages of undress appear in advertisements in sometimes incongruous places: bikinis on a ski slope, for instance. Sex sells, of course. Modern advertising employs an astonishing variety of persuaders. Among these are humorous and entertaining television and radio commercials, appeals to the sense of smell by the use of perfumed

ink on paper, endorsements of products by celebrities, appeals to parents to give their children a better

controversial 43

Because fear is a principal human frailty, this last-mentioned motivation is applied to the advertising

of thousands of commodities, sometimes boldly, sometimes subtly. Fear of poverty, sickness, and loss

of social standing, and the specter of possible disasters, great and small, sometimes move previously

unexcitable consumers to buy anything from insurance and fire extinguishers to cosmetics and vitamin

capsules. http://encarta.msn.com © 19972000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

44 Techniques of Persuasion There are a lot of ways advertisers try to get you to purchase their products. While we may think

that advertisers tell lies, they rarely do; they just say things in a way to persuade us to buy.

Part 1

Read through the descriptions of various techniques below: In the spaces between, try to think of an ad you have seen recently that might use that technique. Bandwagon: Advertisers make it seem as if everyone is buying this product, so you better buy it The best, most-exciting board game is sweeping the nation. All your friends and neighbors This makes you feel left out if you are not buying. Avant-garde: This technique works almost as the reverse of bandwagon by making it seem as if the product is so new and so cool that you will be the first on the block to have it. Only super- cool people like you will even know about this product. Testimonials: Advertisers use celebrities or just regular people to endorse the product. Pay close attention; sometimes the celebrity does actually say that he or she uses the product. Facts and Figures: Statistics, percentages, and numbers are used to convince you that this product is better or more effective than another product. But, be aware of what the numbers are Transfer: This is a rather complicated technique for persuasion. To recognize it, you really need to pay attention to the background of the ad or to the story of the commercial. Transfer gets you

to associate the good feelings shown in the ad with the product itself. This then transfers the good

feelings to you when you buy the product. A commercial that shows a happy family gathered around a bowl of macaroni and cheese wants you to think of yourself like that happy family if you buy the macaroni and cheese.

45 Part 2

Imagine that you are an advertiser. Your job is to try to sell a paper clip. Your teacher will assign

or you will choose one of the above advertising techniques; write a headline for an advertisement that uses that technique. Now, write a different headline for the same product, but for a different audience.

46 Techniques of Persuasion and Advertising Claims As you look at various print and television advertisements, jot down where you see some of the persuasive techniques. Keep in mind that you might not see all of them, and you may see others that were not described on the previous pages.

Bandwagon Avant-garde

Testimonials Facts and Figures

Transfer Other Techniques

By examining only the persuasive techniques used, who do you suppose is the audience for one of the ads? How do you know this? How would you imagine the persuasive techniques used would have to change if the audience were to change? Explain.

47 Techniques of Persuasion and Advertising Claims As stated in an earlier activity, advertisers rarely lie because they could be sued for making false

claims. This does not mean, however, that they do not stretch the truth and create language to make the best possible and legal claims that they can.

Part 1

Read through the description of various advertiser claims. Add an example of your own in the spaces between. Weasel Words: This is when advertisers use words or phrases that at first glance appear to be significant and important, but on closer inspection, they are empty and meaningless. When a to prevent them, only to help prevent. Anything that does not hurt can be said to help. Other weasel words or phrases are virtually, looks like, fights, best. You have to look closely and think about these words carefully. The Unfinished Claim: Normally, when you make a comparison, you state the two things that intentionally do not finish the comparis The Unique Claim: Many products on the market today are nearly identical, so advertisers try to make theirs seem special; legally, however, they cannot make false claims. So they focus on a single element that is found only in their product. They hope that consumers think this means that - The Rhetorical Claim: A rhetorical question is the kind of question to which there really is not answer yes to their questions, though they have made no real claims that their products will deliver on any promises.

48 Part 2

Think back to the paper clip headlines that you wrote for the Persuasive Techniques earlier. Now, write a claim for selling your paper clip by using one of the claims above. Be sure not to lie, but use language carefully to sell your product.

49 Techniques of Persuasion and Advertising Claims As you look at various print and television advertisements, jot down where you see some of the claims made. Keep in mind that you might not see all of them, and you may see others that were not described on the previous page.

Weasel Words Unfinished Claims

Unique Claim Rhetorical Claims

Which advertisement do you think gave the most outrageous but legal claim? Would you buy this product? Do you believe that certain claims work better for certain audiences? Give an example.

50 Analysis of an Advertisement

Materials Various advertisements

Purpose To understand the main elements that make up an advertisement To demonstrate that knowledge through an analysis of an advertisement

Steps

1. Think-Pair-Share: Locate and collect a variety of types of ads magazine, newspaper, TV, radio, Internet

pop ups, etc. that are targeted to a variety of audiences. Allow time for students to examine one or

more of the ads and to complete the chart on the following page independently.

2. Pair students and allow time for each pair to discuss and compare their charts and add information gained

from their discussion.

3. After they have done a close reading of their ad, together they should write a paragraph that analyzes the

ad for one or more of the following elements: audience, persuasive techniques, and cinematic elements.

4. Students should present their analyses to their peers in larger groups or to the whole class.

51 Analysis of an Advertisement You have been looking at various advertisements in a variety of ways. Now, you will put all these tools together in order to try to figure exactly how the advertiser is trying to influence your

choice. Look back through some of the print or TV ads that you looked at earlier in this unit and find one that strikes you as particularly effective.

Part 1

Before writing your analysis, complete the chart below:

Product: ________________

Persuasive Techniques Used Claims Made

Audience/Representations Cinematic Elements/Layout

Part 2

Write a strong topic sentence that states the product name and what the advertiser uses to influence its audience. Then, write a paragraph that supports that topic sentence with specific examples from the ad itself. Be sure to explain the target audience of the ad. Write a clincher statement about the successfulness of the advertiser with this ad.

52 Culminating Assessment: Analyzing and Creating Ads

Assignment

Your assignment is to write an analysis of a print advertisement for its persuasive techniques, use of language, claims made, and effectiveness at influencing its audience. Then, you will create a new advertisement for that same product that is targeted to a different audience. Last, you will write a reflection on the differences between the two advertisements.

Steps

1. Look through magazines and newspapers to locate effective print advertisements. Select two that you think might work well for this project.

2. Complete the Prewriting Form that asks you to examine the persuasive language, claims made, persuasive techniques, and targeted audience for each advertisement. After completing the Prewriting Form, you should select one of the two advertisements.

3. Show your selected advertisement to several people representing a variety of ages. Ask each person whether he or she would buy the product based on this advertisement. Record their responses on separate paper; you may want to refer to these responses in your analysis.

4. Begin writing your analysis of the selected advertisement by writing on each of the following topics:

The specific claims made by the advertisement

The intended audience of the advertisement and how the choices used are appropriate for that audience

5. Be sure that you have an introduction with a thesis statement and context about the ad and the product. Your conclusion should address The overall effectiveness of the advertisement: why it is persuasive. Also, consider and explain if the ad makes any unfair representations of gender, social class, people, or places.

6. Ask a peer to look at your advertisement and your analysis. Incorporate any appropriate suggestions into your final copy of your analysis.

7. Begin designing your new advertisement by using the Prewriting Form that asks you to consider the text, images, claims, and language that would be appropriate to persuade the new audience to buy the product. Create a rough draft of your new advertisement and show it to as many people as possible that are in your targeted audience; ask them if your advertisement seems to relate to them and whether it is persuasive.

8. Create a final copy of your advertisement. You can draw the final images, take photographs, or locate images on line or in magazines.

9. Compare the original advertisement with the new one that you have created by using the Venn diagram. Write an analysis of what changes were made and why the changes were made to fit the new audience. Focus on the specific language you used and the claims made. Also, be sure to consider any unfair representations you or the original ad

make about individuals and/or groups of people or places.

53 Culminating Assessment: Analyzing and Creating a New Advertisement

Priority

Standard 6-5

Exceeds 4-3

Meets 2-1

Does Not Yet Meet

9.05 Infer an

ideas, analyzing evidence that supports those unstated ideas and make reasonable generalizations about text.

Makes an

exceptionally clear analysis about how the advertisement achieves its purpose by thoroughly explaining visual choices, as well as the persuasive techniques and

claims made. Identifies that the inferred purpose of the advertisement is to persuade, and there are some references to the visual and text choices, though some significant elements may go unexamined. At this point the response is mainly a description of the ad. There is not an analysis yet nor is there a reasonable inference made about the ad.

9.11. Provide

details/examples to support ideas developed into separate paragraphs.

Numerous, relevant,

and effective examples from the ad are offered to support the ideas. The examples are fully

explained. The response includes appropriate, if somewhat limited, examples from the ad. A few of the examples may not be fully explained or may not be relevant. The response does not include many relevant or specific examples from the ad to support the

9.17. Analyze

advertisements, entertainment and news programs for how they affect targeted

audiences The targeted audience of the ad is clearly identified and thoroughly analyzed by examining language and visual choices made in the ad with a convincing explanation of how the audience is affected. The audience of the advertisement of the ad is identified, though the analysis of the language and visual choices may be somewhat limited or inaccurate in places. The effect on the audience is mentioned, though not fully examined. There is little or no mention of the intended audience of the advertisement

and only limited analysis of the language or visual choices.

9.17.

Demonstrate

how advertisements affect targeted audiences through the new

advertisement The chosen language and visuals are varied, original, and extremely effective in persuading the targeted audience. The chosen language and visuals make the new audience clear to the viewer and is generally persuasive to the targeted audience. The audience of the new ad may not be clear and/or the persuasive techniques may not be appropriate for the intended audience.

54

Analyzing Advertisements: Prewriting

Once you have selected two advertisements, complete the following chart for each:

Product #1: _________________________

Examples of Persuasive Techniques Claims Made

Examples of Persuasive Language Intended Audience: How do you know?

Product #2: _________________________

Examples of Persuasive Techniques Claims Made

Examples of Persuasive Language Intended Audience: How do you know?

55 Before you decide which advertisement you will analyze for this project, brainstorm other intended audiences for both products and what persuasive techniques might be appropriate for the new audiences:

New Audiences Persuasive Techniques

Product One:

Product Two:

56 Creating a New Advertisement: Prewriting

Product: _____________________ New Audience: __________________________

New Advertisement

Why would this be

effective for the new audience?

Key Image(s)

Persuasive

Techniques

Slogan/Key Text

Additional

Text/Key

Persuasive Words

Claims Made

57
After you have drafted your new advertisement, complete the Venn Diagram below to help you write your comparison between the original and the new advertisement. Original New

58 Taking Action

Materials -

Purpose To recognize the power and need for student-centered and -produced media

Steps

1. Ask students to think-pair-share about their feelings about how teenagers are represented in the media

and about the consumerism culture in general. What can or should be done about this representation?

2. Ask students to read the article either as a whole class, as individuals, or in groups.

3. Ask students to ma

Politique de confidentialité -Privacy policy