(reprinted from "Dr. Dave’s Cyberhood" by David Walsh, Copyright 2001)

This activity will work best if you have the product or the toy available. Videotape or watch a commercial of a product or toy you or your child owns. As you watch the commercial, try and pick out the differences in the toy (or product) as it appears in the commercial and as it is in real life.

Does the toy seem bigger on TV?

Is the setting of the commercial a real home or is it a made-up environment?

Do the sounds the toy makes sound different on TV?

Is there exciting background music to the commercial that you don’t have at home?

Is the toy pictured alone or is it grouped with a lot of other toys or ad-on equipment?

Can you actually play with the toy at home the same way its being played with in the ad?

Are you as happy when you play with this toy at home as the children on the television ad are?

Is the price of the toy or product mentioned?