Advertising

CATEGORY: REAL WORLD

Why:

Advertising shapes us and our view of the world. Becoming more aware about advertising helps us become more intentional around which messages we want to absorb.

Warm-Up:

What are the best and worst ads you've seen?

Exploration:

We are surrounded by advertising all the time. Phones, magazines, billboards, TV commercials, YouTube, etc. Even if we think they aren’t influencing us, they are. There are all kinds of tricks ads use to manipulate us, like creating a positive association with a celebrity, making us laugh, being weird or memorable, or telling an emotional story. Find some ads and see if you can deconstruct how they work. Superbowl ads are especially interesting. The more you know the tricks they use, the less easily you’ll be manipulated by them.

Additional Resources

For more details, consider the Argonaut Deconstruct an Advertisement Challenge, here: https://www.argonaut.school/deconstruct-an-advertisement