This lesson is designed to give students a hands-on experience in advertising a product. Students will learn the various advertising and propaganda techniques. Students will then work in groups to create a commercial advertising their own product.

1- Do You Buy It? Quiz

2- Common Advertising Strategies

3- Unique Products List

4- Commercial Rubric

1- A computer with a projector for viewing advertising examples

2- A video camera to record the student-made commercials

3- A source for viewing the commercials (television, computer, projector)

Teachers should be familiar with the types of propaganda and advertising techniques

Teachers should have prepared a list of products for groups to use in advertisements. An attached list of creative products is also included in this lesson plan.

Day 1 (45 minutes):

Warmup Question: What makes an object appealing to buy?

Students will answer the question in the first 5 minutes of class. Teacher will lead a class discussion on the warmup question. The teacher will instruct the class they are beginning a lesson on advertising techniques that will result in creating a commercial to present to the class.

Direct students to the following link. This may be done using a digital projector for the entire class to view. Ask students to find the advertising techniques in each of the commercials. Does the commercial make them want to buy the product? Why or why not?

 http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/whatsinanad.html

Explain to students that advertisers use different techniques known as propaganda to sell a product.

Day 2 (45 minutes)

Warmup: Have students complete the "Do You Buy It?" quiz. Challenge the students to figure out all of the slogans. Ask students if they can add any popular slogans or jingles to the list.

Review with students the introduction of the propaganda lesson. Have students look at the list of "Common Advertising Techniques." Assign students to laptops / computers. Allow students to research websites finding examples of propaganda in advertising. Have students share their findings with the class. In searching, have students think about the following questions:

1.  What is the product?

2.  At whom is the product targeted?

3.  What is happening in the advertisement?

4.  Does the advertisement have a catchy slogan or jingle?

5.  What makes the product appealing?

6.  What does the advertiser want you to believe?

7.  Would you buy this product? Why or Why not?

Day 3 (45 minutes)

Students should break into groups of two to three. Students will be assigned a unique product (an example list is attached). Students should begin creating an advertisement for their product. The commercial should be at least 2-3 minutes in length and include a catchy slogan or jingle.

Day 4 (45 minutes)

Students will finalize commercial advertisements. Students will use video cameras to record their commercials. Students will use the microphones for the computers to record voiceovers for the commercial. When students are finished, files should be saved onto a removable drive.

Day 5 (45 minutes)

Complete commercials from previous day and present projects to the class.

Students will be assessed using a rubric.

This site allows students to explore the various steps in the advertising process. This particular interactive link allows students to determine if the product is "hot" or "not" in terms of selling to the public. Great for all age levels.

http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/buyingsmart/hotorsnot.html

Peer tutoring could be useful for students who have more difficulty with research and creating the product commercial.