Homework: Next class you need a pocket notebook.
Lesson Title: Introducing the Rhetoric of Advertising (rhetoric lesson 1)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
-What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials – Made You Look books / “That’s so gay!” PSAs: Pizza Boys and Girl Cashiers versions / Nascar 1 commercial / pocket notebook
1)What is rhetoric? Groups discuss for one minute, and write an answer. Then we’ll discuss their ideas, and make clear what rhetoric is: communication that tries to persuade an audience to see something in a specific way, and then take an action.
-Review essential question
2)Advertising
-Advertising is a form of rhetoric you’re all familiar with. Ads target a specific audience, give specific reasons to support their view, then attempt to make you take an action (buy, believe, support, act differently, etc.).
-Made You Look: read pgs 8 – 9 on ads being everywhere.
-Also read “Try This at Home” and explain homework again: carry a pocket notebook with you everywhere you go today, and keep track of every advertisement you see today,tonight, until you get to class tomorrow. Keep a record by making marks in groups of 5 (IIII and the 5th across them to make them easy to count later). All advertisements including television, internet, print, etc.
3)Who is the Audience?
-Watch “That’s So Gay!” PSA Pizza Boys version, and ask who the audience is. Make the point that the audience is not whomever sees this ad, but specific people who act in specific ways. Watch the PSA again and as students volunteer information on the audience record notes on the document camera.
-Ask students to raise their hand if they’ve ever said: “That’s so gay!” Discuss.
-Watch “That’s So Gay!” PSA Cashier Girls version, and have students work in small groups to determine the specific audience being targeted.
-If time do the same for Nascar 1 commercial
4)Homework: carry a pocket notebook with you tonight for at least an hour just looking around your surroundings for ads. Keep a record by making marks in groups of 5 (IIII and the 5th across them to make them easy to count later). All advertisements including television, internet, print, etc.
Lesson Title: Introducing SOAPSTone Strategies (rhetoric lesson 2)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
-What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials – Made You Look books / SOAPSTone handouts with Tone words on back / “It takes a man to be a dad” PSAs: Dance Dad, Manicure Dad, Tampon Dad
1)AD-dition Homework Review:
-Students tabulate the number of advertisements they saw, then combine their total with their group members (check homework as they tabulate). Share numbers, then discuss where they saw the most ads / odd or unexpected places they saw ads?
-While they tabulate pass out SOAPSTone handouts (with Tone Words on the reverse side).
2)Made You Look: read pg 10, Advertisers versus Critics
-Two students at the front of class who are strong and dramatic readers. Above their heads on the board are the labels: Critics and Advertisers. They read switching off and acting the part, while I stand between and give my take on each side after each point.
3)Introducing SOAPSTone (and explain acronym, versus initialism)
-Explain each category and how the strategy helps you analyze any text, and today we’ll be using it to analyze rhetorical pieces known as commercials.
4)Using SOAPS (we’ll save Tone for next class) The emphasis will be on audience today.
-“It takes a man to be a dad” PSAs: Dance Dad, Manicure Dad, Tampon Dad / watch each commercial starting slowly and watching each a few times each in order to analyze using SOAPS.
5)Homework: Made You Look – read pg 14, “What me, a walking billboard?” / Check your clothes and see which companies you’re “endorsing” by people seeing their company logo on your body. Make a list of companies, and a number count for each company of items you wear (it might not just be companies, but ads for events, races, competitions, etc.).
[might tie to math with “frequency charts” – check kids’ homework, then bring to math]
Lesson Title: Using Emotion and Deciphering Tone (rhetoric lesson 3)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
-What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials – Word Girl “The Thing” video / “Kill the Beast” Beauty and the Beast video / “Chinese Professor” political commercial / HW Handout Motivating Emotion
1)Word Up! Watch 5 minute Word Girl video on vagueness in advertising, and analyze using SOAPSTone (also adding the analysis of tone).
-While they watch check homework
-Emphasize the importance of using specifics
2)Kill the Beast! Be afraid, be very afraid.
-Explain how advertisers often play on emotion, especially fear to motivate their audience.
-Watch 5 minute Disney’s Beauty and the Beast clip where Gaston plays on villagers fears to get them to form a lynch mob. Ask students to look for specific things Gaston says and does to motivate through emotion.
-If there’s time consider the movie’s message and audience.
3)Chinese Professor, and the Rhetoric of Fear
-Watch the Chinese Professor political ad sponsored by the Tea Party group, Citizens Against Waste.
-What do you see, hear, what is said that is meant to motivate by playing on the audience’s emotions?
4)Homework: (handout) Watch some commercials (online, or on television) and write about one that uses emotions to “motivate” their audience. Describe the commercial, and how it uses emotion to motivate their audience (1/2 page).
Lesson Title: High Fructose Fun (rhetoric lesson 4)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
-What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials – Made You Look books / High Fructose Corn Syrup defense commercials: “Date” and “Party” / SNL HFCS “Party” parody video
1)Homework and Collect: Give students “commercial programming” handout and explain homework, then collect ½ page homework on a commercial that uses emotion to engage their audience. USE EVIDENCE.
2)Made You Look
-Read pgs 19 – 22 “A Commercial Sandwich for a Specific Audience.” Then explain how it ties to the homework.
-Read pgs 69 – 70 “Public Relations, Spin, and Re-Branding.” Then explain how it ties to the commercials we’ll be looking at today.
3)High Fructose Corn Syrup basic information
-Take out SOAPSTone papers
-Raise your hand if you’ve heard of High Fructose Corn Syrup (count, and reset). Raise your hands if you’ve heard that HFCS is healthy (count), then explain that HFCS had an enormous PR problem.
HFCS is used in place of sugar and is found in most processed foods.
-Pros – It extends the shelf-life of food / It’s cheaper than sugar, and allows food to be sold at lower prices, and leads to higher profits for companies
-Cons – People who eat foods with HFCS as opposed to sugar have a higher rates of obesity, heart disease, cholesterol, and diabetes / Rats given a diet of HFCS foods gained 48% more weight than rats given a diet of the same foods, but containing sugar / It is a prime reason for the obesity epidemic in the United States.
4)High Fructose Corn Syrup Spin
-Analyze the following two commercials using SOAPSTone: High Fructose Date / High Fructose Party (if time allows work with small groups first, then have full class discussion on audience for both).
-Analyze the following satirical parody using SOAPSTone: Saturday Night Live – High Fructose Party (analyze for the “purpose” of the skit in small groups, then as full class).
-Finally, explain that because their PR campaign wasn’t successful HFCS is lobbying congress to change their name to “Corn Sugar”.
5)Homework: (handout) Watch at least one entire television program (1/2 hr to 1 hr). First describe the program in 2 – 3 sentences. Next name and describe each commercial aired during that program (one sentence for each). Finally, in 2 – 3 sentences explain who you believe the main audience is for those commercials and program (USE EVIDENCE).
Lesson Title: Attracting Attention (rhetoric lesson 5)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
-What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials – Made You Look books / Commercials: Vader Kid / Black Ops / Innovators /
1)Collect research homework from previous class
2)Made You Look
-Read pgs 35 – 36, “Steps to a Successful Ad”
3)Analysis and Discussion of “Attention Getters”
-Using SOAPSTone, plus the following prompts (How did the commercial attract attention? How did it make the viewer stick around? How did it convince the audience of its credibility? How successful in convincing audience to buy what they’re selling?)
-Watch and Analyze the following commercials (USE EVIDENCE to support ideas):
Black Ops (full SOAPSTone / and watch 2nd time just for specific jobs / lastly – tone)
Vader Kid (for attention and audience)
Innovators (for attention and audience)
4)Homework: Describe an advertisement that got your attention today, and explain how it accomplished that (1 paragraph). How it “made you look”.
Lesson Title: NIKE (rhetoric lesson 6)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
-What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials – Made You Look books / Art and Copy documentary clip “Just Do It” / Nike Commercials: Awake, Move, Throwdown
1)Made You Look: read pg 45 on branding / pgs 51 – 53 on selling transformation
2)Corporate Philosophy
3)Just Do It: watch a clip from the documentary Art and Copy (9 min) that discusses Nike’s corporate philosophy, and the origin of their Just Do It slogan. We see that Nike’s business goals are parallel with their customers’ health.
4)Nike Commercials (Choose a scribe / one paper per group)
-After watching each of the following Nike commercials students will analyze each to determine the goal of each commercial aside from selling Nike.
-Nike Commercials:
Awake (starting the day) – Which specific examples are used? Why are they effective? What is the main theme (the big idea) of the ad?
Throwdown (relay race) Watch once, and ask about the premise of the ad (how each person shown is trying to one-up the next). Watch it again, and ask students to watch for specific examples of how each athlete ties to the next athlete shown. What is the main theme of the ad? How is the ad effective?
Move (athletes of all levels) – Which specific examples are used? Why are they effective? What is the main theme of the ad?
5)Homework: No HW
Lesson Title: NIKE Women (rhetoric lessons 7 and 8)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
-What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials – Nike Commercials: This is Love, Make Yourself, Make Yourself – Maria Sharapova version, Not an Athlete / Janet Champ short piece / 1990 Nike Women 8 pg insert / Print Ads (10 copies each) Not Your Mother, 40 Year Old Woman, Measure of a Woman, My Knees, My Shoulders, My Legs, My Thighs
1)Nike Women (current campaigns)
Watch a several commercials, after each ask the class what the “Big Idea” in the commercial is:
-“This is Love” China ad (Theme: big idea – non-romantic Love is a powerful emotion that can shape who you are when you follow it, and work hard)
-“Make Yourself” USA (Theme: big idea – you have the power to create yourself)
-“Make Yourself – Maria Sharapova” (Theme: big idea – realizing the amount of work it takes to make yourself into a world class athlete)
-“Not an Athlete” Britain (Theme: big idea – depending on someone else recognizing your greatness and becoming famous is a waste)
After watching the commercials talk a little bit about how we take women’s athletics for granted now, but before a civil rights law was amended girls didn’t have the same funding or access to sports that boys did. Title IX made it illegal not to have equal opportunity for boys and girls. And even after Title IX was enacted before 1990 Nike didn’t think much about their female customers, and did not advertise to them.
2)Nike Women (old school)
-Read: Janet Champ, author of the campaign
-Read: Original 8 page magazine insert that started Nike’s push for women in athletics (1990).
-Ask students why it’s a good idea, and make sure they realize it’s not only altruistically great (for women and society), but it creates a new demographic for sales. Where corporate philosophy and actions parallel something beneficial for society advertising can be a powerful force for good.
3)Jigsaw Various Nike Print Ads
Each group is assigned a print ad (2 copies each group):
-“Not Your Mother” / “40 Year Old Woman” / and “Measure of a Woman” (All from the original 1990 campaign focused on changing the perception of what a woman can be.)
-“My Knees” / “My Shoulders” / “My Legs” / “My Thighs” (From a more current campaign focused on body image. Try to assign these to girl-centric groups to avoid giggling boys.)
-Groups are given the rest of class to analyze their ad using SOAPSTone (with their scribe keeping detailed notes for tomorrow’s presentation). Make sure groups USE EVIDENCE to support their ideas.
4)Homework: each member of the group will be assigned a short essay to write (at least 6 sentences / I will provide model essay): Speaker, Audience, Purpose, Tone. Each short essay will use evidence to support their ideas.
Day Two – Lesson 8: Presentations
1)Using the projector put each ad in full color up on the screen.
2)Group presents / reads their ad
3)Group presents their analysis (including essays), and after each SOAPSTone step ask questions and prompt for more specifics or to help them fix mistakes. Be sure they support their ideas using specific EVIDENCE.
4)Big Round of Applause!
Lesson Title: Re-Thinking Advertising (rhetoric lesson 9)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials: Made You Look book / Dove “films” Evolution and Onslaught
1)Mirror Mirror:
-Discuss with small groups sharing at least one thing you didn’t like, then one you did like. Collect “mirror, mirror” homework as they discuss.
-Ask for volunteers to share with the full class.
2)Made You Look: read pgs 54 – 56 “Measuring Up” in appearance
3)The Dove Real Beauty Workshop for Girls
Watch the Dove short film “Evolution”
-(group write, then class discussion) What is the big idea or theme that Dove wants their audience to think about?
-(group write, then class discussion) Who is the specific audience?
Explain that while Nike paid millions upon millions of dollars to have their commercials put on television, Dove didn’t pay anything. The “film” Evolution cost $50,000 to create, and was released on YouTube (not television) in 2006 during LA Fashion Week. It got 40,000 hits on the first day, 1,700,000 hits in the first month, and 12 MILLION hits in its first year.
It got incredible media attention being played and talked about on programs such as Good Morning America, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The View, as well as CNN, NBC, and ABC news.
So this “film” that cost $50,000 to produce has been estimated to have gotten $150 million dollars in free advertising for Dove. In a time where people largely avoid commercials, Dove put something out there that people wanted to see, and they went online to find it.
Watch the Dove short film “Onslaught”
-(group write, then class discussion) What is the big idea or theme that Dove wants their audience to think about?
-(group write, then class discussion) Why do they show a full 30 seconds of the girl’s face? What effect are they trying to achieve with their audience?
Similarities and Differences Between Nike and Dove Campaigns
-(group write, then class discussion) How are these “films” similar to the Nike campaigns we looked at? (Make sure they understand that the company’s goals parallel what is good for their customers, as well as making money / and their products are peripheral to the commercial’s message in each.)
-(group write, then class discussion) How are the Nike and Dove campaigns different?
4)Homework: Watch some television, or a movie. Find at least 3 examples of “product placement” during the show itself (record in your pocket notebook).
Lesson Title: Hiding Advertising (rhetoric lesson 10)
Subject: English
Time Frame: 1 class
Essential Question –
What creates powerful rhetoric?
Overview
Materials: Made You Look book / The Family Guy “Bug” advertisements (1 min) / ANTZ – product placement (2 min) / Project Runway “embedded” advertisements (2:38) / Tivo – Next Food Network Star – MGD64 (1 min) / Bones “disguised” advertisements (1:20)