Friday, November 18, 2011

Advertising Tactics 101

Ahh, Thanksgiving season.  The time when everyone's thoughts turn to family, friends, feasts...and Black Friday. Oh my stars.  Can I just say that I have never EVER been shopping on Black Friday?  I avoid Wal Mart on afternoons and weekends so I won't have to deal with the crowds....much less crowds fueled up on coffee at 4:00 am with visions of discounts dancing in their heads.

But I digress...

It's also the time of the year when the ads start invading our lives.  They are running out of the mailbox when I get the mail.  They are always on television. 

What better time of year to start a unit on Advertising 101?

I shamelessly stole some ideas from Jimmie at http://jimmiescollage.com/

We have some useful information here:  http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/ml_lit_gr10/resources/pdfs/media_analysis/HS_15_Ad_Techniques2.pdf

Recognizing propoganda information here:  http://www.rbs0.com/propaganda.pdf

This gives the history of advertising and has examples of how ads have changed over the years:  http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/ml/assignments/advg_evolution_hi-res.pdf

This teaches about the influence of advertising:  http://practicalmoneyskills.ca/foreducators/lessonplans/plans/activities/consumerKnow/s_lesson10_influencead_100709.pdf

My kids already are skeptical of ads they see for toys on television, mostly because when they were little and would excitedly tell me about something they saw I would ask them, "Do you really think that doll can dance that way?" Or something like that , depending on what it was they saw.  It made them second guess the commercials.  It made them realize that not everything is as it appears.

I think this will be an interesting study, especially with the shopping season upon us, and I hope it creates savvy shoppers out of my younguns.

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