Are you worried about the way that advertising is influencing our students?
Our students are being targeted by advertising from an increasingly young age, especially through social media. You may well feel this is harmless and perhaps it is, but giving students a better understanding of the techniques that are being used to manipulate and influence them can help them to make better informed decisions.
These are some common techniques that are used.
1. Targeted Messaging
Using words, slang, or formal language that resonate with a specific demographic (e.g. teens vs. professionals).
2. Emotional Appeal
Appealing to emotions like fear, joy, nostalgia, or aspiration to make a connection.
3. Representation
Featuring people who look, dress, or behave like the target audience.
4. Design choices
Using colours, fonts, and styles that match the tastes of the audience.
5. Cultural References
Tapping into popular trends, music, memes, or shared values that the audience identifies with.
6. Use of Influencers or Celebrities
Collaborating with individuals who are trusted or admired by the target audience to promote the product.
7. Highlighting Benefits Relevant to the Audience
Emphasising how the product solves a specific problem or adds value to the user’s life in a way that aligns with their needs and priorities.
8. Social Proof
Using testimonials, ratings, or user-generated content from people similar to the target audience.
9. Aspirational Marketing
Showing a lifestyle or outcome that the audience desires, suggesting that the product is a step toward that goal.
How to use this with students:
- Here's a link to some of the best advertisements of 2024: https://www.thedvigroup.com/video-production-blog/best-video-ads-examples/
- Ask students to look through the advertisements and try to find examples of these techniques.
- Give your students the list and ask them to watch out for examples through the week? Then they can come and share what they noticed with the class in the next lesson.
- Ask students how they feel about these techniques and how legitimate they think they are. Does having an awareness of the techniques make them more sceptical about the products?
Building a critical awareness of digital media takes time, but by doing activities like this both inside and outside the class we can gradually develop our students abilities to think more critically.
Here you can more Multimodal Literacy Lessons
Comments ()