The Technical Codes found in the media samples were:
MOVIES
Symbol: "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" had a lot of colors and animation. The objects, like different kinds of foods were made to be very attractive and fantasy-like, bringing the audience to dreamland.
Symbol: "Series of Unfortunate Events" used a lot of shades. Dark colors like gray, black and green were used to symbolize gloomy and sad emotions and situations. A lot of visuals such as thorns, swirls and shadows were used to show confusion, pain, and fear.
Technical Jr.:The camera zoomed in and out, wiped and swiped rapidly, keeping the viewers interested and guessing what is happening next.
TV COMMERCIALS
The catch phrase "Eat, Drink, Chew Extra" has a chant-like rhythm that is easy to remember. The commercial also used a popular song "Bad Boys" changing the lyrics to "Bad boys, bad boys, what ya gonna chew when he comes for you". It sent a message to the viewers that eating all these junk food will cause tooth decay or bad breath therefore chewing gum was a necessity.
Technical Code Jr.:The camera zoomed in on the junk foods that were supposed to be attacking or enticing the woman that made an emphasis on the "villains". A close up on the woman chewing gum saved the day.
Symbol: The Nolan Cheese commercial was very humorous. The typical mouse trap was used to show a typical rat looking for food and getting trapped along the way. But he redeemed himself towards the end when he got stronger after eating cheese. The way strength from eating dairy was portrayed was effective.
Technical Code Jr./Written: There was a blackout in the middle of the commercial right after the rat ate the cheese to show suspense. The music "Rocky" made it exciting for the audience to watch the rat do weight lifting. The catch phrase "Seriously Strong" worked perfectly with the images.
MAGAZINE ADS
Symbols: The Wendy's hamburger showed a superimposed picture of a hamburger. Using smaller fonts and having the drink behind it made the hamburger look gigantic.
Written: The buzzwords went well with the image like "Baconator" showing tons of pieces of bacon popping out of the hamburger and "Smaller is better works only for gadgets" emphasizing the appetizing and filling size of the hamburger.
Symbols: The Farm Fresh Produce ad used a colored photo of the vegetables against a black and white background photo of the city. This effectively expressed the message that no matter how polluted or routinely life in the city can be, there is still a possibility to have something fresh and out of the ordinary.
Technical Code Jr: The use of colored and black and white photograph showed a clear contrast between fresh and shiny to drab and boring.
Media has a such strong presence in our daily life. We are actually living in a media saturated world where all the things that we see affect us emotionally, socially and intellectually. It is therefore an important skill for learners to be able to analyze and undertand how media can be both deceiving and beneficial. This skill will allow our 21st century learners become effective and critical producers and consumers of media messages.
LESSON PLAN
Objective: How are food marketers crossing the line between advertising and entertainment to engage young consumers, and why does this concern children’s consumption in daily life? To what extent are product-related games, quizzes and apps making children both recipients and tools of marketing? In the lesson below, students look at various forms of advertising, then keep logs of the ads and other branded content they encounter over the course of a week. The students will reflect on their experiences researching and how they will become different consumers.
Materials: Computers with Internet access, projector, links to examples of advertisements and commercials. (see links below)
Warm-Up: Display the following three-question quiz on the board/projector.
1. It is conservatively estimated that children influence more than $_______________ in food and beverage purchases each year in the United States.
a. 10 million
b. 50 million
c. 50 billion
d. 100 billion
2. In February, the McDonald’s sites HappyMeal.com and McWorld.com received a total of ______________ visitors, around half of whom were under 12.
a. 7,000
b. 70,000
c. 700,000
d. 7 million
3. General Mills’ Lucky Charms site, with virtual adventures starring Lucky the Leprechaun, had __________ visitors in February.
a. 27,000
b. 57,000
c. 157, 000
d. 227,000
(correct answers: 1. d; 2. c; 3. d)
Reflection: Have students answer the questions with table groups. Ask students if they find any of these numbers surprising.
Lesson and Activities:
Activity A
A. Show the movie title sequence.
Ask the question, "What were the feelings you had while watching the movie? List them all down on the board or chart paper.
B. Show the magazine ad. Ask the same question, "What were the feelings you had while looking at the ad? List them all down on the board or chart paper.
C. Show the Magazine ad again and play the movie at the same time. Alternately show the ad and the movie making sure that you give an ample amount of time using the music from the movie as a background music to the magazine ad.
Ask the same question again, "What were the feelings you had while watching both at the same time? List them all down on the board or a piece of paper.
D. Compare your lists and discuss the similarities and differences.
E. Show the TV commercial
Ask the students to describe the commercial. Ask the question, "What is the message of this TV commercial? Is it effective? What are the benefits of using images and music altogether to relay a message?
F. Do steps A-E for Activity B with the following media samples.
Activity B
Movie Title Sequences:
Magazine Ad:
TV Commercials:
Nolan Cheese Commercial
G. Compare the results of Activity A and Activity B.
H. Show the Wendy's ad again and play the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie at the same time. Ask the question: How did your feelings change about the magazine ad? List down answers on the board or chart paper and discuss the differences from the list made in Activity A.
Activity C
Poll the class. Ask for a show of hands for each of these questions, and tally responses on the board:- Have you ever played a game, taken a quiz or used an app related to a food, drink or other product?
- Have you ever “liked” a product on Facebook? Ask some students to share which products they have “liked” or tagged online. List them on the board.
What do you notice about the list? Have you asked your parents to buy these products? Were you already consumers of these products?
Reflection:
Look around the grocery store. How does the junk food aisle differ from the produce section?
What are some of the marketing techniques you see in the grocery stores? Are they efficient?
What restaurants are you attracted to at a food court and why?
How do you think things are different today than they were when ads were only in print, display, radio and television?
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