The Topic: Advertising
Overview
The Basics - Advertising is providing information, calling attention to, and making known something that you want to sell or promote.
More Detail - Advertising is a message designed to promote or sell a product, a service, or an idea. Advertising reaches people through varied types of mass communication. In everyday life, people come into contact with many different kinds of advertising. Printed ads are found in newspapers and magazines. Poster ads are placed in buses, subways, and trains. Neon signs are scattered along downtown streets. Billboards dot the landscape along our highways. Commercials interrupt radio and television programming.
Advertising is a multibillion dollar industry (more than $100 billion a year) in the U.S. In many businesses, sales volume depends on the amount of advertising done. Manufacturers try to persuade people to buy their products. Business firms use advertising to promote an "image" for their company. Businesses use advertising to gain new customers and increase sales.
Individuals, political candidates and their parties, organizations and groups, and the government also advertise. The armed forces uses ads to recruit volunteers. Special interest groups promote a cause or try to influence people's thoughts and actions. Politicians use ads to try to win votes. And people advertise in newspapers to sell cars, homes, property, or other items.
42eXplore 4 Teens
AdCritic.com
http://www.adcritic.com/
Here is where you will find practically any ad you
have seen on TV. You can vote on it, comment on it,
discuss the underlying innuendoes, and hopefully even get
your comments read by some of the leading advertising
agencies in the world.
Related Websites:
2) Adbusters http://www.adbusters.org/home/
3)
Adland http://commercial-archive.com/
Ad*Access
(Newspaper and magazine ads)
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/
Concentrating on five main subject areas (Radio,
Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World
War II), this site presents images and database
information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S.
and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and
1955.
Related Websites:
2) Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/
3) John W. Hartman Center
for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History from
Duke University Libraries
http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/hartman/
4) Advertising Timeline from the American
Advertising Museum http://admuseum.org/museum/timeline/timeline.htm
Don't Buy
It: Get Media Smart from PBS Kids
http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/
Learn about advertising techniques and buying smart.
The site includes tips for avoiding subtle sales on the
Internet.
Related PBS Website:
2) Merchants of Cool, The from PBS Frontline http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
Practical Guide to Advertising (PDF) from the UK Advertising Association in association with Departemnt of Trade & Industry
http://www.adassoc.org.uk/A_practical_guide_to_advertising.pdf
It is important to appreciate that advertising does not simply mean television, radio or newspapers. This paper explains wide range of techniques available in advertising.
Related Website:
2) Advertising and Promotions http://www.managementhelp.org/ad_prmot/ad_prmot.htm
3)
Mini-Course
on Advertising http://www.bspage.com/advert.html
Activities 2 eXplore
After visiting several of the advertising
websites, complete one or more of the
following activities:
Analyze Advertising. Look at the
advertising used in television, magazine or
newspapers. Visit (1) Language
of Advertising Claims by J. Schrank, (2)
Creative Advertising Ideas and Techniques,
(3) Advertising's
15 Basic Appeals by J. Fowles, and (4) Advertising (Persuasion analysis) to
help identify some of the tactics used in
advertising. Make a list of ads that you find
in the mass media, identify the products
promoted, and describe the technique(s) each
use.
See how
savvy you are on the techniques used to the
gimmicks and techniques of advertising. Complete the Advertising Challenge from Media Smart Kids.
Complete an Advertising WebQuest.
Adapt or follow the procedures found at the
following webQuest sites:
1) Advertising Webquest by L Harrison & adapted by C. Goolsby http://teachers.usd497.org/cgoolsby/advertising1.htm
2)
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor (Grade
8) by C. Matzat
http://www.thematzats.com/propaganda/
3) Cyberganda Advertising (Grades 7-8) by
B. Clark http://www.campbell.k12.ky.us/links/webquest/clark/quest.htm
4) Persuasion Quest
http://www.aacps.org/aacps/boe/...
Evaluate Television Ads. For one
week in your television viewing time, keep a
log of the ads that you watch. Figure out how
may minutes per hour are used for
advertising. Identify your five favorite
commercials and the five that you dislike the
most. Identify why you like or dislike each
of them. Compare your findings with friends
and classmates.
Create a Television Ad. This is
for a 30 second commercial slot. First
identify a product for your ad. This may be
the toughest task! It can be a real or
imaginary product. Next create a slogan. An
example might be 'SuperJuice.' Your slogan
could be 'SuperJuice, Super Energy.' Now
you're ready to write the script -- remember
to keep it short. Perform the ad, enlist
friends and volunteers to assist you. You may
want to record your commercial with a video
camera.
Debate Issues Related to Advertising
and Marketing to Children. (Grades 9-12)
Precedent has already been made with regard
to advertising and marketing of tobacco
products to children (Tobacco
Explained). Now public attention has
begin to focus on the entertainment
industries. Politicians are making their
views known. Consider the first amendment
rights as they apply to producers and to you
as a consumer. It may be useful to separate
the production of an entertainment product
from its advertisement and marketing
campaign, and then decide what you favor. You
can limit your discussions to the issue of
violent media. Some useful links include:
1) ABCs at the FTC: Marketing and
Advertising to Children http://www.ftc.gov/speeches/starek/minnfin.shtm
2) Government Regulation and Industry
Self-Regulation
http://www.nsbf.org/safe-smart/regulation.htm
3) Marketing of Violent Entertainment
to Children (Letter from Ralph Nadar to
FTC) http://www.peace.ca/violententertainment.htm
3) Marketing to Kids Online Isn't
Childs Play
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626209
4) Psychologists Challenge Ethics Of Marketing To Children http://www.mediachannel.org/originals/kidsell.shtml
5) Violent Media is Good for Kids
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2000/06/violent_media.html
An alternative topic for debate and
research is 'should advertising be allowed in
schools?'
Websites by Kids for Kids
Advertising: Be Careful What You Buy! http://library.thinkquest.org/5704/ (1999 ThinkQuest USA)
This website presents different kinds of ads and explains different techniques used to hook people into buying a product.
Effective Advertising http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02403/ (2007 ThinkQuest International)
Learn about the world of advertising, how an advertisement is made, what consumers and experts think about advertisements and advertising and what makes a good advertisement.
Subliminal
Messages (1999 ThinkQuest Internet
Challenge)
http://library.thinkquest.org/28162/
By definition, the word subliminal means "below the
threshold of consciousness." A subliminal message is not
intense enough to produce a sensation but has sufficient
intensity to influence the behavior and mental processes
of one's mind. There are many ways in which a suggestion
can be delivered to the audience.
More 2 eXplore
AdCracker by S.L. McNamara
http://www.adcracker.com/
The open-public portions of this site provide
insights into the business of creating marketing and
advertising concepts or campaigns.
AdForum
http://www.adforum.com/
This website is designed to aid and promote the area
of research and information relating to the advertising
and/or communication business.
Advertising
Age
http://adage.com/
This online site is a source of marketing,
advertising and media news, information and
analysis.
Not-to-be-Missed section:
2) Advertising Century http://adage.com/century/
Advertising
Self-Regulation from the Better Business
Bureau
http://www.bbb.org/advertising.asp
Advertising self-regulation has been part of the
mission of the Better Business Bureau system since its
founding in 1912. At that time, the rise of fraudulent
and misleading advertising and the absence of any
effective regulation led to the formation of BBBs for the
purpose of promoting truth in advertising.
Related Websites:
2) Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising by J. Kilbourne http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article40.html
3) What's the Problem? Facts About Girls, Women + Media
http://www.mediaandwomen.org/problem.html
4) Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) from
Council of Better Business Bureau, Inc.
http://www.caru.org/
5) Fact Sheet: Children and Advertising from MediaWise http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_childadv.shtml
American Advertising
Federation (AAF)
http://www.aaf.org/
This is the website of a trade association that
represents 50,000 professionals in the advertising
industry.
Democracy
Project
http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/
Here you learn about the history of the political
commercial, follow the development of a 'spot'
commercial, learn some of the tricks of the trade, and
more.
Online
Advertising from Web
Source
http://www.web-source.net/internet_advertising.htm
A powerful ad is one of the most important aspects of
entrepreneural success. The secret to a successful ad is
a headline. You only have a split second to grab your
targets attention. Write your ads with passion,
excitement, and benefits.
Related Website:
2) Internet Marketing Techniques from ECnow http://ecnow.com/Internet_Marketing.htm
Language
of Advertising
http://www.linguarama.com/ps/293-6.htm
This business article examines the choice of language
to convey specific messages with the intention of
influencing people.
Related Website:
2) Language of Advertising Claims by J. Schrank
http://sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/comp/ad-claims.html
3) Texas Advertising (Online dictionary) from
The University of Texas at Austin
http://advertising.utexas.edu/research/terms/
Propaganda
Techniques by D. Donn
http://members.aol.com/MrDonnUnits/Propaganda.html
The techniques of propaganda are used every day, in
the military, in the media, in advertising, in politics,
and in all sorts of human relationships. It's not as easy
as you might think to spot hidden messages.
Related Websites:
Propaganda Critic http://www.propagandacritic.com/
Thoughts
about the Future of Advertising (Dec. 1995) from
University of Texas at Austin
http://advertising.utexas.edu/research/papers/WhiteShort.html
The question is not will advertising continue to be
an important tool of business communication (the answer
to that question is yes!) but simply, what forms will
advertising take in the future?
Websites For Teachers
Advertising
Awareness (Grades 5-8) from Teaching
Online
http://www.teachingonline.org/ADVERTISING.html
Part One of a five part language-social studies unit
exploring the world and language of advertising including
purposes, methods, targets and our reactions to
advertising.
Related Lesson from Teaching Online:
2) Logo Design http://www.teachingonline.org/Logodesign.html
Ad Dissection 101 by R. Anderson http://ideas.wisconsin.edu/ad101/
This unit is designed to teach students how to
interpret the messages commercials send, so they can make
informed choices based on well reasoned decisions. As a
culminating activity, students create their own parody
ads or public service announcements.
Related Lesson Plan:
2) Ad Smart http://www.curriculum.org:80/csc/library/profiles/10/html/ELDBOP1.htm
Advertising
Techniques and Target Audiences Used in
Commercials (Grades 9-12) by G. Wells
http://www.idahoptv.org/ntti/nttilessons/lessons2001/wells.html
Understand the power of advertising by researching
advertising techniques, target audiences and a variety of
ads. The class will look at commercials during their
favorite television programs and keep a TV log. The
purpose is to see what types of products are advertised
and who the target audiences are. Students will identify
what advertising techniques are used.
Deceptive Advertising: Crossing the Line by P. Bonner (Grades 9 - 11) http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM663&page=teacher
Students examine the ground rules for advertisements of goods and services, why we need rules, who sets them, and who enforces them.
Did You Get the Message? by P. Bonner (Grades 5-8) http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM634&page=teacher
Businesses use advertising to try to convince consumers to buy what they are selling. Advertisements do this by pointing out how consumers will benefit if they buy a product. These benefits are called incentives. In this lesson, these basic functions of advertising are introduced. Various techniques used to achieve these objectives are also explained.
Identifying and Understanding the Fallacies Used in Advertising by D. Howerton (Grade 9-12)
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=785
Students deconstruct fallacious images and messages in advertisements and demonstrate their understanding of the fallacies through multimedia presentations.
Kids & Commercialism from The Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org/kids/index.php
Organiztion whose efforts are to shift American culture away from an emphasis on unconscious consumption towards a more fulfilling, just, and sustainable way of life
Magazine
Ads and You, the Teenager by R.K. Duffy
HTTP://www.col-ed.org/cur/lang/lang57.txt
This activity is to increase student awareness of
persuasion tactics as seen in magazine advertising.
Related Lesson Plan:
2) Junk Mail Explosion: Why You Buy and How Ads
Persuade by M. Nichols (Grades 7-10)
HTTP://www.col-ed.org/cur/lang/lang56.txt
Promoting
Yourself Through Advertising (Grades 10-12) from
Kodak Lesson Plans
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/lessonPlan015.shtml
This unit outlines a process for students developing
a 'product' that can be used to promote themselves.
Selling
of Our Schools, The: Advertising in the Classroom
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin083.shtml
This article summarizes the growth of advertising in
the schools, then proposes a media literacy effort.
Related Webpages:
2) Advertising in the Schools by A. Aidman at ERIC
Digests http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-3/advertising.htm
3) Advertising in Schools from PBS's
Affluenza
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/treat/tguide/tguide4.html
Words 2 eXplore
| advertisement | television | radio | overcompsumption | slogan | propaganda |
| testimonial | celebrity | logo | packaging | subliminal influence | jingle |
| visual content | language | design | icon | persuasion | advertising campaign |
| commercial | media literacy | ad | billboard | promotion | audience |
| target group | telemarketing | focus groups | Burma Shave | market research | marketing plan |
| attention | mass media | symbol systems | influence | consumerism | slogan |
Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 10/00. Updated 7/07.