voicethread is giving me BS so I haven't posted there yet, I'm not sure if I'll be able to or if I'll just jury rig something else to do the same thing. But here's my activity:
My slides were beer ads in the 20th/21st century, predominantly American. their primary purpose is to sell beer by equating it with sexuality. To quote Bill Maher, "if you drink our beer hot women WILL want to fuck you."
In addition to this, there's the aspect of belonging, being part of something special, and bettering yourself.
All of this to fool people that what they're seeing an ad for is more than cheap swill.
Based on this, my activity would be an examination of cheap product (in this case, beer) and examining what TIES are being made between the cheap product and some sort of lifestyle alteration. Look at the beer ads, what do the ads suggest you will be, be part of, or obtain by buying their product?
Directions: in groups of three look at an ad. Brainstorm three underlying messages being given. Example, "buying this product will make me look like a supermodel".
--- Obviously, this activity can be done with a variety of ad-types, not just beer. I simply chose beer because of how horrifyingly idiotic they are compared to the monopolistic nonsense they're actually selling.
Second part of the activity: share with the large group what three BIG messages you found. As a large group, we look at the trends. What messages are most common? What does this say about us as consumers?
Final part of the activity: a simple product search. How well do these products sell. How much of this success can we attribute to the ads? What does it say about US as consumers (again) if we're willing to pay for a mediocre product?
Jake,
ReplyDeleteI really like the variety of adverts you chose. It is interesting to see how much the ads and even the history of alcohol has changed over time. I also like how you addressed the various audiences for each advert.
I thought I had posted the above comment on you voicethread posting but apparently not.
ReplyDeleteI like this activity you have set up. Having the small groups allows for the students to bounce ideas off each other and help one another see things.
I also like how you tie in how well do these messages work at getting us to buy their products. It allows the students to think critically about their consumerism.