SC SDE Toy Ad Lesson Plan

Before Teaching the Lesson

Teachers should also log onto the “Buy Me That” website (http://www.medialit.med.sc.edu/toys.htm) to download the following handouts:

Questions to Ask About TV Toy Advertising

Attributes of Commercials Aimed at Boys and Girls

Common Advertising Strategies

There are also articles from mainstream news sources about toy advertising that can be used.

Use the handout of Vocabulary Words to familiarize the students with the language of commercials.

:

“What is a commercial?”

“What are commercials designed to do?”

A general discussion can bring out the role of advertising on television and how these spots are designed to get the public to feel good about a product. The teacher may explore which television networks might air toy commercials.

An excellent videotape entitled TV Planet:  Discover the Secrets of Television is available from the South Carolina Department of Education Office of Instructional Television (ITV). One of the segments on this video is about commercials. Ask your media specialist or Distance Education Learning Center (DELC) to assist you in acquiring this video. For additional information, visit the TV Planet website:  http://www.rmpbs.org/tvplanet. In addition, an original lesson plan, corresponding to this segment, has been developed by South Carolina educator Doug Smith, as part of his participation in the National Teacher Training Institute. The lesson plan can be found at http://www.scetv.org/ntti/lessons/2003_lesson/paytv.cfm

Students should understand the concept of target audience. The maker of this toy has purchased the air time for this commercial on this channel in order to reach the consumer or the person most likely to be interested in the toy or who might convince Mom or Dad to “buy me that.”

Teachers can show students what a 30 second script looks like by dividing an 8×11 sheet of paper into two columns:  Label one video at column video and the other audio. (Examples of actual toy scripts can be found on the “Buy Me That” website.) While this might sound simple, the purpose is to explore these two production elements. The teacher should ask students to brainstorm what is meant by video. Typical answers might include the picture on the screen, what the audience sees, what the camera records, colors used, etc. Then do the same for audio. Typical answers might be what the audience hears which could mean narration, music, or sound effects.

A teacher can tell students that commercials are constructed, much like a house is, when it is being built. The producer of the commercial decides what words and images will be used and constructs the script and the commercial to utilize the best techniques. The producer also decides what shots to include and which shots to leave out.

Students need to know more about how a commercial is photographed and produced. For example, a teacher might talk about angles, perspective, and framing. With a video camera connected to a television, the teacher can easily demonstrate how a small toy can be photographed to appear larger.

Ask students if they know what the phrase special effects means. This can be discussed in relation to what students might already know and be familiar with (i.e. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc.). When audio is discussed, the teacher might talk about how it too can be manipulated to create sounds that are intended to attract interest.

Teachers can also talk about attributes of commercials aimed at girls and those aimed at boys. What do we know? What can we guess? Several articles (see handout #4 at http://medialit.med.sc.edu/toy.htm) provide some insight. Review specific attributes and write them on the board or overhead. The teacher might also talk about a toy commercial that all can relate to such as GI Joe or Barbie.

Students can understand the concept of formula if the teacher compares this idea to that of a recipe. Everyone knows that a recipe is used to make cookies, for example. The recipe would include not only the list of ingredients, but also the procedures to follow in order to make cookies. The producers of television commercials also use a recipe, called a formula. The formula can be discussed by using the “Five Toy Ad Tricks to Watch Out For” and the “Common Advertising Strategies” handouts that are posted at http://medialit.med.sc.edu/toys.htm.

At this stage, the teacher should have pre-selected at least one toy commercial from those recorded earlier from television. The teacher sets up the playback of the commercial by talking about formula, gender, video, audio, editing, and special effects. In general, the teacher wants to make students more comfortable with the process and procedures for making and producing a commercial.

The teacher plays the commercial. Students complete the rubric upon watching the commercial. It may be helpful to show the commercial more than once. Thirty second commercials go by quickly and with repeated viewings more details can be picked up. Interactivity is encouraged at this stage.

Sometimes a toy does not perform as advertised. (This is highlighted well in a video entitled “Buy Me That Too.”) The students may have experiences to share, in which a toy they received for a birthday or holiday failed to perform as advertised. Encourage the students to share orally or write about their experiences.

Ask students what they would do when one of their toys fails to perform as advertised. Who would they consider writing to complain about the toy’s performance or a deceptive advertisement.? At this point, the teacher might make a list. For example, a letter could be written to the television network that aired the ad, the toy manufacturer, a magazine read by kids where the toy was advertised, the local newspaper, the Federal Trade Commission, or the local Better Business Bureau. Note: The now defunct publication Zillions (Consumer Reports for Kids) maintains a website in which kids reviewed toys. This website can be accessed at http://www.zillions.org. Your school library media specialist may have old copies of Zillions archived.