Print advertisements are everywhere and attempt to persuade us to spend our valuable money on various products. Understanding how ad agencies create ads to shape our emotions and behaviors is essential. When we know these “tricks of the trade,” we can protect ourselves from consumer exploitation.
Learning Objectives:
1. Consider our relationship with advertising
2. Acquire and practice with a deconstruction acronym 3. Enjoy deconstructing an advertisement 4. Produce a clear piece of academic writing
Agenda:
1. Warm-up - ice cream logo recognition
2. Acronym acquisition and practice 3. Peer discussion 4. Writing practice
Warm-up: Getting Started with Advertising
Advertisers leverage the power of both text and image to create powerful brands that people remember. Let’s look at some well-known logos from various ice cream companies and see what we notice. Companies, Branding, and Logos
Instructions:
1. Discuss each logo with your peer or group.
2. Answer: ○ What company is represented by the logo? ○ What are your thoughts and feelings about that particular company? ○ Identify the colors and discuss initial impressions. ○ What details are included in the logo? ○ Why do you think the brand has made those choices? 3. Whole Class Discussion:
What can we learn about advertising from looking at these logos?
Part 1: Learning an Acronym for Deconstructing Advertisements
We like to use acronyms to help us remember protocols for breaking down print advertisements. There are many aspects to consider, and this mnemonic helps. Commit this to memory and use these print advertising terms in your work:
Please Call Aunt Vera To Eat Vietnamese Springrolls
1. Producer: ○ Who produced the ad? ○ What organization is behind the message? ○ What do they want the audience to do?
2. Context and Culture:
○ What is the historical context of the text? ○ How is this reflected in the language and images of the ad? ○ What is the ad saying about a particular culture or society?
3. Audience: ○ Who is the “target audience?” ○ What are their age, ethnicity, class, profession, and interests? ○ What words, images, or symbols suggest this?
4. Values: ○ What human needs, fears, or desires are being appealed to? ○ Health? Family? Sexuality? Being Loved? Security? Social Acceptance? ○ What positive or negative value messages are presented?
5. Text: ○ What is the “written text” of the message? ○ What are the donation and connotation of keywords? ○ What is the interplay between text and image?
6. Emotions and Mood:
○ What emotions does the text evoke? ○ How does language evoke an emotional response? ○ How do images and symbols evoke an emotional response? 7. Visuals and Layout: ○ What colors are used, and how do they enhance the tone or mood? ○ How are images and layout used to add an effect? ○ What is pictured and why?
8. Subtext: ○ What is the “subtext” of the message? (What do you think is the hidden or unstated meaning?) ○ What implications can be drawn? ○ What associations can be made?
Part 2: Activity: Cartoon Deconstruction
Who likes ice cream? Let’s look at this great print advertisement from Haagen Dazs and explore how authorial choices shape meaning and persuade us to spend our money. Then, we’ll choose our own print ad and see what we can uncover.
1. Examine this completed graphic organizer for a selected print advertisement.
2. Copy and paste this blank graphic organizer into your Learner Portfolio. 3. Select one advertisement from the curated list. 4. Collaborate with a partner and complete the graphic organizer. 5. Create a piece of academic writing after completing the organizer. 6. Refer to this video on High School English Hub for guidance. Part 3: Sharing Work with Peers
Now that you’ve completed your graphic organizer, let’s share with peers and learn how advertisers make deliberate choices to shape meaning for a given target audience.
Instructions:
1. Refer to your completed graphic organizer.
2. Practice academic speaking and share insights with your peers. 3. Use the following sentence stems if needed:
○ In this ad, we see [textual evidence].
○ This is a clear example of [technique]. ○ The creator uses [technique] to communicate that… ○ Readers can infer that…
4. Discuss as a class:
○ What are we learning about advertisers' choices to persuade a target
audience to take action? Part 4: Academic Writing Practice
Now that we’ve shared our work with friends, let’s pivot and demonstrate our learning in a clear piece of academic writing. In this work, we’ll continue to explore how creators make precise choices to shape meaning for readers.
Instructions:
1. Refer to your completed graphic organizer.
2. Write a strong topic sentence for an academic paragraph. 3. Try the sentence stem:
○ The creator uses visual and language choices to argue that…
4. Select your strongest textual references, analysis, and interpretation.
5. Complete the academic paragraph. 6. Highlight the work as follows:
○ Main claim ○ Textual references ○ Textual features ○ Author/reader relationship
7. Refer to this video on High School English Hub for further support. 8. Refer to the sample below:
Through this print ad, Haagen Dazs suggests that, like a fine violin, their ice cream is an exclusive product crafted with intentionality and the finest ingredients, thus resulting in excellence. The visual aspect of the ad depicts the main image of a carefully crafted violin juxtaposed with a carefully crafted ice cream bar. The extensive negative space allows each element of both the violin and the ice cream to be viewed cleanly and easily, and this mirrors the precision that both Haagen Dazs and violin craftsmen put into their work. The reader can infer that both endeavors require care, precision, and intense focus to create an exclusive and expensive product. Furthermore, by splitting the main image into three smaller sections, the viewers can infer that each production stage demands excellence. While the top third of the image symbolizes the simple yet elegant design, the middle third clearly illustrates the purity and sophistication of the “ingredients” that go into each ingredient. In particular, the vanilla bean stands out among the other ingredients. Most consumers of fine foods understand the value of this bean, and this ingredient symbolizes the imported luxury ingredients that define both products. Finally, the bottom third of the image displays the final product in both cases. This allows the reader to see the result of this intense focus, intentionality, and craftsmanship, thus establishing the violin and ice cream bar as exclusive products worth their exorbitant cost.
Moreover, the ad's copy also reinforces the values of precision and excellence. The phrase “precisely crafted” combines a strong adverb with an active verb - crafted - and both words emphasize the skill and expertise needed to create the violin and ice cream. When we “craft” something, we take our time and put in extra effort, and this is precisely the idea that Haagen Dazs wants consumers to associate with their ice cream. The double meaning of the phrase “strike the perfect note” also adds humor to the ad, as food and wine connoisseurs often refer to ‘notes’ when explaining the taste of an elegant food or beverage. This clever and intentional pun from Haagen Dazs successfully forces the consumer to associate ice cream with another product of much higher value, thus helping to reinforce their claim that Haagen Dazs is worth the price. Lastly, the superlative of “finest” stands out and distinguishes both products as unparalleled and without competition. Of all the instruments and ice creams on the market, the viewer is persuaded that these are of superior quality and consist of only the best ingredients. Thus, in the end, through intentional visual elements and precise language choices, Haagen Dazs convinces the reader that their ice cream is worth the hefty price.
Part 5: Writer’s Conference with AI
Great work! You’ve completed your written analysis of your selected Chappatte cartoon. Now it’s time to have a writer’s conference with AI. Let’s improve our work. Instructions:
1. Open your AI platform of choice.
2. Input your completed paragraph. 3. Work with the following prompt:
You are a High School English teacher conducting a writing conference with me. Begin by asking me to input my complete academic paragraph and the text I analyzed. Next, ask me what I think I did well. Comment on the response. Next, ask me what area of the writing concerns me. Provide clear advice, but do not rewrite any sentences for me. Continue asking me about areas of concern in the writing. Only ask me one question at a time and wait for my response before continuing. Answer with precise and concise academic language.
3. View the sample chat to understand the possibilities.
Part 6: Revise, Edit, and Reflect
We hope your writer’s conference with your Personal Learning Assistant (PLA), better known as AI, was helpful. You will certainly improve your practice with the chatbot the more you engage with the tool. Now, it’s time for the final step - reflection. Instructions:
1. Revise your writing based on the feedback you received from your AI or teacher-led writer’s conference. 2. Compare your revised work to your first draft. 3. Compare your final draft to the sample work in Part 4. 4. Use the reflection sentence stems to take charge of your learning and make an action plan for moving forward.
Part 7: Further Support
If you would like to enrich your ability to read, analyze, and interpret advertisements and want some more practice, please refer to High School English Hub for this powerful unit!
