Lesson 3- Advertising and Commercials on Television 

Background

As students are exposed to a constant stream of advertising and commercials on television, they should realize the purpose and targets of advertising. Students will examine advertisements and commercials and determine their characteristics, audience and influences; students will also research the role advertising plays in television  and discover what makes an advertisement effective.

Objectives

The student listens and responds to a variety of oral presentations, such as skits and multimedia presentations.
The student recognizes and responds to nonverbal cues used in a variety of nonprint media, such as television advertisements.
The student uses technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.

Activities

1. As in introduction to the lesson, teacher should book mark the Timeline link of The Emergence of Advertising in Television, this link is an overview of advertising and influential developments, 1850 - 1920. Have students click on the various eras to learn about how advertising developed in America.

2. Teacher: collect samples of advertisements in newspapers, magazines, web sites and television recordings for students to examine. Have students view television commercials at home and use a Advertising Checklist to evaluate commercial.

3. Teacher can preview the following sites to book mark appropriate pages for students to visit: 
Television Advertising Faqs - interesting facts about TV and advertising
Television Advertising for Small Businesses - how do small businesses advertise on TV?
Johannessen Advertising - more information about advertising

4. Students can work individually or in small groups to plan, write, and rehearse a commercial. They can present their commercial in a skit, they can videotape it and show to class or they can use a multimedia program such as PowerPoint, KidPix or HyperStudio to present their commercial to classmates.

5. After viewing student-produced commercials, lead a class discussion with these guided questions: How did the ad make you feel? Were you persuaded to buy the product? Who is the target audience? Was the product something you really wanted or needed? What made the commercial effective? What is the purpose of the ad? Did the ad want to change your opinion about something, did it want you to buy something, or did it want to influence you to do something?

6. Students will analyze the commercials using the Advertising Checklist.

Materials

Computer with Internet access, home television, Advertising Checklist, multimedia software, Commercial Checklist

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on their commercial using the Commercial Checklist.

Homework

Students will choose one TV commercial to evaluate and will complete an Opinion Page Worksheet for that commercial.

Extension Activity: Create an Ad

• Explain to students that they will be creating an ad for their favorite television show. Tell them they need to feature the name of the show, what it is about, day it shows, time, channel, if it is on cable, and names of stars
• Have students compare and contrast various advertisements featuring television shows and determine what makes a good advertisement: easy to understand; music, colors; action; how long ad lasts; is clear about who is in show; is clear about what the show is about; who will be interested in watching the show, and is it a comedy, musical or drama?
• Break students into small groups to construct slogans and write text for ad
• Groups plan layout of ad; add graphics. Review how to copy and save free clip art from Internet (PC- right click and click on "Save picture as," save to a disk or hard drive, Mac- click mouse on graphic and hold, click on "Save as," save to a disk or hard drive)
• Proof read, edit and publish. See example of Television Ad
• Display in classroom or publish in a Class Favorite Television Show Book

Fieldtrip

Send students on a virtual fieldtrip to NBC, CBS, and TV Show to view television schedules, facts about television shows, and featured articles about stars and upcoming shows.