Admongo: Game for critical analysis of advertising

Political advertising trends in the 2010 election

 Wu, T. (2016). The attention merchants: The epic scramble to get inside our heads. New York: Knopf

Free Spirit Media: Chicago high school students critique media representations in advertising

Critical analysis of fast food advertising: hype versus reality

Media Matters 2014-2015: Frederickton, New Brunswick, High School students' media/film critiques

Fast food advertising targets young children

James Othmer: The 30-second spot is quaint: how branding is ubiquitious, Star Tribune editorial

Engaging shampoo video commercial (useful to study film techniques/editing)

Drama show characters are appearing in ads

Study: Continued strong effects of TV advertising

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Analyzing Advertising Activity

by Brien Kelly

First, I would have my students look through a pile of magazines and have them cut out some of the advertisements that they found. Students would then share their found advertisements with the class and explain what makes them effective.  Next, I would have students get into groups and collaborate to make a collage out of their found advertisements (they can also collect more advertisements for this portion of the activity).  Students would be responsible for rearranging text and images to create a new ad.  At the end of class, students would share their advertisements with their fellow students.

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Ad Analysis Activity:

Meredith McCarthy

I think it would be neat to divide students up into small groups and assign them each a channel to watch 30 minutes of television on. Students would record the different commercials that are presented during that time slot on their designated channel. Students can note not only how many commercials are broadcast during this time period, but also what ads have been selected for that particular channel. In class the next day, students could pair up with those who watched the same channel as them and compare their notes on the commercials aired during the 30 minutes they watched. Using their data they would come up with a summary of the target demographics for the commercials and assumptions of the ads and compare that to the channel itself and the assumptions made in connection with the channel—for example, there might be a lot of beer commercials targeting men on ESPN fitting with the assumption that men are the ones primarily interested in sports and that to enjoy sports one needs alcohol. Groups would then present their findings to the class or use their findings to create a parody commercial that illustrates the connections made within each group between the channel, commercials, target audience, and assumptions.

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Advertising activity

Miriam Krause, Fall 2009

For this activity I would have students choose some product that they like: a video game system, a type of food or drink, a clothing brand, etc. I would have them search for as many ads as they could find in a short time (10-15 minutes), including any medium. Once they have a collection of ads for their product, I would tell the students to analyze the messages of the ads. For example: Who seems to be the target audience for the ads? What values are the ads portraying? What do the ads promise to people who buy the product? Finally, I would have students think about why they like this product, and what relationship (if any) their liking has to the product's advertising campaign. Does analyzing the underlying messages of the advertisement change their opinion of the product at all?

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Advertising Activity

Adam Reich, Fall 2009

Have students make a list of the most recent purchases that they made.  Depending on the age of students, this list could include media (music, movies, etc), clothes, fast food, or basically anything they spend money on.  Then have them research advertisements from these companies.  This would be easiest online, either on YouTube or on the actual company website.  Once each student has viewed several different ads, have them reflect on what made them purchase that product over something similiar.    Do they feel that the ads the viewed spoke to them in anyway?  Were they the target of the ad or did they just happen to fall upon this particular product.  This activity will allow the students to reflect on the role they play in the advertising world, as well as consumer culture as well.

Analyzing Advertising Activity

by Chris Baldridge

As a teaching activity, I would instruct the students to find an advertisement that is interesting to them. I would then instruct them to evaluate the social pressures that the ad imposes, ie: pressure to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, perform a certain act, act a certain way… I would then ask them to analyze the effectiveness of this and write a small evaluation of the danger of these imposed social pressures. This would be a mentally demanding activity so I would “ease” this pressure by asking them to “reenact” this magazine ad. Meaning, I would ask them to build a set, dress in the same clothing, and pose in the same way that the ad is posing. I would reward the group with the most realistic/accurate recreation of their ad with some sort of reward. 

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Ad Analysis

Laura H.

Students would be instructed to bring a full-page magazine ad or public service announcement into class. Students would then free write about this ad, what it means to them, what it "says," etc. without any instruction. Then I would talk about the goals of advertising and use one or two examples from students and analyze them with the class, figuring out who the target audience is, what the inferred message is, etc. Students would then be instructed to go back to their individual ads and add to their initial analysis with their added knowledge of advertising. After adding to their analysis, they would share with their neighbor both their ad and their analysis. Through this collaboration, students would further learn from each other about advertising technique.

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Sarah Rose

Teaching Advertising:

One activity I would employ for teaching students about advertising would be to watch a number of TV commercials as class without showing the product name.  There are multiple commercials that don’t identify their product until the very end of the ad (like the new BlackBerry ad below).

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I would ask the students to identify what the ad (or ads) is both explicitly and implicitly selling.  They would then get into pairs and think of as many commercials as they can that are particularly memorable.  Then they would share with the class and we would discuss why these commercials are particularly memorable: are they funny? Annoying?  Cute? Dorky? Clever? This would lead into an assignment where the students would work in groups of 3-4 to create a short commercial for a new product using the elements that make a commercial memorable.

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Advertisement Analysis Activity

Jeff Blanchard, Fall 2009

For my ad activity, I would ask students to identify a product category they enjoy, such as electronics, clothing, media programs, etc.  Then I would ask them to search through an assortment of magazines and find several examples of ads for their chosen product category.  Then they would analyze the collection of ads and record the common methods used, what message or image the ad illustrates, and the targeted audience.  Then the students would create their own advertisement for a product in their chosen category, implementing the methods uncovered in their analysis.  The product can be real or fictitious.  They could use their own artistic abilities or cut out words, letters, and images from magazine ads to create their ad. They would also include a short, 1-2 paragraph description of their ad, discussing the methods, images, and messages they included in their ad as well as the audience their ad attempts to appeal to and how that is accomplished.