Advertising Analysis Lesson Plan
Media Activities and Discussion Ideas to Promote Critical Thinking
Jun 20, 2007
Often, mass media is thought of as simply meaningless entertainment or annoying advertising. Rarely do consumers realize the extent of influence media advertising has on their lives. Use all or part of this lesson plan to encourage students to begin to critically examine the media messages that they are exposed to daily. Consumers of mass media need to be aware that all media convey values and ideologies as well as the potential for social consequences.
Break students into groups of four or five for this media literacy activity.
Materials needed:
Writing materials
Computer access for students
Magazines to examine advertisements
Advertisers spend millions of dollars studying members of media audiences (YOU) to determine what types of messages will get you to buy their products. In order to gain understanding of these audience analysis methods, complete the following to determine how advertisers might be categorizing you.
- Consider your demographics:
Age:
Gender:
Occupation:
Income:
Marital status:
Education completed:
Geographic location (suburban, rural, urban):
What sort of ads, images, messages do you think appeal to your demographic group? Explain?
- Consider your psychographics:
On the Internet, go to the VALS website - http://www.sric-bi.com/VALS/presurvey.shtml - and take the online survey to determine which VALS group SRIC-BI believes best describes you. Print your results and discuss as a group. Explain why you agree or disagree with this analysis.
- Select a full page magazine ad. As a group, analyze this ad and address on paper these areas:
What kinds of messages we receive from advertising (?)
How these messages effect our buying choices (?)
How these messages effect our perception of the world around us (?)
In addressing these areas you should consider the following:
What product is the ad trying to sell? Other than the product itself, what idea or message is the ad trying to sell? (What is the subtext?)
Who is the target audience? Explain using specific demographics and psychographics.
Can you identify any emotional appeals in the ad? (sex, romance, humor, guilt, patriotism, sympathy, anxiety, anger, envy, loneliness, desire to escape etc.)
What kinds of stereotypical ideas and/or subliminal messages can you identify?
In what ways does this ad effect our ideas, attitudes or beliefs? (Example: alcohol = fun / thin = beautiful)
Are these attitudes created by media ads or are they existing attitudes reinforced or made acceptable by media ads?
Why did you choose this ad? What caught your attention long enough to stop and look at it?
How would you rate the overall effectiveness of the ad for it's target audience? Explain your rating.
- Each group report and compare findings with the class as a discussion.
Additional Media Literacy Lesson Plans:
Radio Broadcasting Lesson Plan
