Images and Influence

A WebQuest for English 20-2

Designed by Carol Boehm
Modified by B. McGillivray

 

 | Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits |

Introduction

Think about the times you look in a mirror or your reflection in a window. Do you watch your shadow grow, change? Do you see yourself in magazines? Billboards? How do we see ourselves? Do we see fun house reflections? Do we see our hopes, failures, dreams, depressions, desires, disappointments? Do we see an ideal constructed by corporations?

Task

Critical Question: Do advertisements influence or reflect youth culture?

This is a journey though the maze of media images of young men and women which populate the pages of our magazines, commercials, billboards, and the sides of our city buses. Your first task is to investigate the sources, purposes and manipulation of these media messages.

For the second task your group will investigate the influences of the images. What are the correlation between images, obsessions with appearances and what health issues are involved?

For your final task your group will compile the information you have gathered, come to a consensus on an approach to use for a presentation. The presentation may be informative, persuasive, or both.

 

Process

Activity 1 - IMAGES

  1. Read the handout "Advertising and Image" from the Media Awareness Network.
  2. Definition of "advertising".
  3. Define (brainstorming) words associated with 'masculine' and 'feminine'
  4. Complete the student questionnaire "The Price of Happiness."
  5. Respond to the student handout "What Do Advertisements Tell Us ?"
  6. Explore websites for favorite products - select those incorporating male and or female images (may also use magazines) Some suggestions are in the Resources section below.

Critical Media Literacy Questions

Five Key Questions

  1. Who created this message?

     
  2. What techniques are used to attract my attention?

     
  3. How might different people understand this message differently from me?

     
  4. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?

     
  5. Why was this message sent?

 

  1. Choose a print ad to evaluate. Copy the ad to a Word document and answer the five key media literacy questions listed above.
  2. Create an advertisement for a popular product that constructs a different, more honest representation of young people. Focus on purpose, audience, and positioning as well as layout, visual and verbal images, choice of words, choice of syntax and font.

 

Resources

 

about-face

Adland

Adbusters

mediawatch

Gender Ads

Gender Messages in Alcohol Advertising

Alcohol Advertising in Men's Magazines

Alcohol Advertising in Women's Magazines

Kellogg's Special K Ads

 

 

These web sites will help you understand the language of advertising:

Common Advertising Strategies

Marketing To Teens

Questions to Ask About Media Messages

Questions to Ask of an Advertisement

Gender Portrayal Guidelines (CAF)

Media Watch

The Language of Advertising Claims

Don't Buy It: Get Media Smart (from PBS)

 

Activity 2 - Influence

JigSaw Activity

Each member of your home group is responsible for reading two articles. Each member will then meet with their counterparts from the other groups in the class. The counterparts are the students in the other groups who read the same articles. Your second group will discuss the articles and create questions for a quiz. Questions should include yes/no questions, information questions and questions requiring inference. These will be used at the end of the JigSaw activity. Each student will then return to their home group to teach their group members about what they have read and discussed in their second group. Do not read any part of the article to other members of your home group.

Stereotyping

Women and Girls

Aboriginal People

Men and Masculinity

Ethnic and Visible Minorities

Alternate Ads Group Activity

  • Divide the class into four groups.
  • Make sure each group has something to write on.
  • Give each group an activity from the Group Activities sheets. They are self explanatory - you just need to read them, discuss, and answer the questions.
  • Have each group explain the type of advertising they explored to the class and present their findings.

Activity 3 Creating Your Own Add

You will work as a media consultant to design an ad which parodies another ad, or you will create an advertisement which helps consumers recognize how they are being manipulated. In order to complete this final task, you will need to recall what you learned during the first two tasks. Complete one of the two options below. Pay close attention to the requirements. Feel free to ask questions as they arise. Want to know how you will be evaluated? Find out here. Check out the bottom of the page to view sample projects and additional tips.

Option #1: Print Ad
  • Create a print ad which makes use of at least one of the persuasive appeals and one of the persuasive claims explained in the previous exercises.
  • The ad may parody another popular ad, or you may create an ad to help consumers recognize how they are being manipulated.
  • Make use of the four p's (point of view, position, posture, and person speaking) as you design your ad.
  • Create a sketch of how you want your ad to look and what you want it to say before you begin working on the final product.
  • The final ad should be placed on a piece of paper at least 11x17" in size. Sheets of poster board will be provided.

     

  • You may want to use a computer to help you create the graphics or text, but you may also create it by hand as well. You won't receive any additional credit for using a computer, but try to make it as neat and professional looking as possible.

     

  • Include at least a half-page, typed summary which explains the intent of your ad. In other words, explain which ad or ads you were trying to parody or how your ad tries to help consumers recognize how they are being manipulated. Briefly explain the appeal and claim you used in your ad and how you considered the four p's as you designed it.

     

  • Whatever you do, make sure it is appropriate for a school setting. Inappropriate or offensive ads will receive no credit.

Option #2: Video
Taped or Live Commercial

  • Complete all of the requirements listed for option one, but create a video taped or live commercial. Be advised that this will take more time than the first option.
  • You will also need to provide your own equipment. The final product needs to be playable in a regular video tape player, so if you use a mini-tape, you will need to bring in a converter so your commercial can be played.
  • You may have more than two people appear in the commercial, but only two students will receive a grade. Each partner receives the same grade, so choose your partner with care. Students who demonstrate the inability to work with a partner will be required to complete option one.

     

  • The commercial must be at least 30 seconds in length, but it may be up to one minute and thirty seconds.
Want to some sample commercials that parody other ads?
Check out these links below. see

Ad Busters: These folks have made it their mission to help the general public recognize how different forms of media manipulate us. They have lots of interesting information on their site, but you will find three locations to be most helpful.

  • You can check out sample spoof or parody ads.
  • You might also want to check out their "uncommercials." These are video commercials designed to do such things as raise consumer awareness as to how we are manipulated by advertisers and other forms of media.
  • They also provide some additional guidelines for those who want to create their own parody advertisements. Pay closest attention to the guidelines listed above, but you might want to consider what they have to say as well.

 

Evaluation

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades. You may want to have separate rubrics for individual and group work.

Beginning

1

Developing

2

Accomplished

3

Exemplary

4

Score

Research

 

able to find some information both print and on the Internet.

Some confusion as to information vs. hype

 

 Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance. Able to perform focused searches in both print and electronic media. Able to easily discriminate between hype, opinion, and information.
Persuasive Techniques: Addressing the Audience

 

 Able to identify and use several persuasive techniques. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance. Able to use persuasive strategies appropriately and to use them effectively.
Persuasive Techniques: Acknowledging and Refuting the Opposition

 

 Unable to identify opposing opinions or vague about possible objections to a stance or approach. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.

Able to identify opposition to positions, opinions, projects, etc.

Able to acknowledge and articulate the points of opposition and to counter them logically and persuasively.


Students read a selection of print and non print text to acquire knowledge about the needs and demands of society

 

 Able to read for content but does not extend the information to new situations. Uses inference only minimally. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance. Able to read for understanding, understanding implications and inferences, and is able to apply knowledge to the changing needs and demands of our society. Able to connect the understanding of advertising to the needs and mores of society. Able to

Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

 Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.

Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

 Able to use standard format for persuasive essay. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance. Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance. Able to use a variety of strategies and genres of writing to communicate with a variety of audiences.
Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge. Able to use library catalogue system to do research. Able to use standard search engines for research. Needs to clarify goals and focus searches.     Able to use a variety of electronic and traditional resources for research. Able to focus research. Able to explore alternative sources of information and resources.  

Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

 Able to use some conventional strategies for communicating.   .  

Conclusion

Advertising is a powerful tool which is used to influence us. Awareness is the key to exploiting advertising. We exploit it in this unit by using advertising images as specimens to examine. By stepping back, and taking a second, and a third look at the codes and conventions of ads, and the power they have on us, we mitigate that power and in fact turn it on it's head. The critical thinking skills you use to deconstruct advertising sap it of it's power. Do you still want to look like Kate Moss or Marky Mark? By writing advertisers, publishers, and the models themselves you are establishing your right and comfort with yourself.

Credits & References

ClickArt - Borderbund - copyright free clipart

Absolutely Free Clip Art - http://www.allfree-clipart.com/main.html

Media-Awareness Network has some of the very best resources for teachers, parents, and children of all ages on the essential issues of today's learning and teaching in the information world.

Ad-Dissection 101: Exposing Media Manipulation

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Last updated September 14, 2005. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page