Lesson Overview:

Students will continue their exploration of concepts in advertising. Students will discuss the purpose, target audience, and value of advertisements in general, and of the specific advertisements each student has brought to class from home. Students will then begin to add details, such as text and symbols, and color to their hand-drawn advertisement.

Length of Lesson:

One 45-minute class period

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for students in grades 5-6.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• develop an understanding of basic concepts in advertising.
• think critically about the purpose of advertising, and what the term "target audience" means.
• apply selected elements and principles of art to create an advertisement of their own.

Supplies:

• Pencils
• 18" x 11" newsprint paper
• Colored pencils and markers

Instructional Plan:

Begin this lesson with a teacher-led discussion of the purpose, target audience, and value of advertisements in general, and of the specific advertisements each student has brought to class from home. Refer to the Media-Awareness Network website for background information about purpose, target audience and value of advertisements. Students will then discuss as a class why each advertisement they have brought to class is or is not successful. Elements of art such as size, color, and realism should be discussed.

In the previous lesson, students began to discuss basic elements of advertising and the product (CD, game, toy, etc) that they brought to class. Have students continue that discussion, focusing on the following questions:

• How did the advertisements for different categories of kid-oriented products differ from one another?
• What audiences were targeted for each category of toys?
• For television ads, were there differences in the types of programs during which the advertisements appeared?

Ask students the following question: What do they think constitutes an effective or ineffective advertisement with respect to the elements and principles of art? During the ensuing discussion, have student refer to the handout Elements and Principles of Art, or you may wish, if time permits, to have students explore the interactive site, The Artist's Toolkit.

Return to students the drawings that they began in the previous lesson. Remind them that they will transform these drawings into advertisements. Students should now focus on adding details to their drawings, such as color, text, and symbols (such as price).

Assessment:

Use the Assessment Rubric to evaluate students.

Extensions:

• Have students draw a media-awareness cartoon like those on the Media-Awareness site. Ask students to name one component in advertising that they would like to let other kids know. Have them draw a cartoon to inform the other students about media-awareness.
• For upper grades, have students create a "spoof ad". Students may need an introduction to the concepts of irony and sarcasm, which are implicit elements of such advertisements. Some recent examples of such television ads include the Geico Insurance and the Old Navy store commercials.

Authors:

• Helen Robertson
  Hawthorne Elementary School, University of British Columbia
  , British Columbia Canada