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| What
You See Is What You Get |
Have
you noticed that food pictured in television commercials, magazines,
menus and on placemats seems to look better than the real thing?
This is especially true of food served in fast-food restaurants.
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Gather pictures of fast-food products from magazines and placemats.
The next time you visit a fast-food restaurant, take the pictures
and compare the food you receive to the food portrayed in the
pictures.
- Is there a difference?
- If so, why do you think there
is a difference?
- Who do you think is responsible for making
the advertised food look so good?
- If you have access to a camera,
take pictures of the food you receive in a fast-food restaurant
and use the pictures to develop an ad for the product.
- How do
you think the general public would respond to your ad versus
a similar ad put together by an ad agency and using a “food
stylist”?
- Is the ad agency developed picture of food ethical?
- Can you think of other products where what you see is not what
you get?
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| I
Identify With That |
Why
is there such an emphasis on supermodels in television advertising
today? One of the reasons is viewer identification. Most
of us like to look at a beautiful (well made-up) woman or a
handsome (also well made-up) man selling tacos, noodles, or
automobiles.
On a mostly unconscious level, advertising executives know that
the beautiful woman or handsome man plays on our desires: we
want to identify with the model. How do we do that? By purchasing
the product. If you buy the noodles, you and the model have
something in common. But do you really?
- Write a letter to a
fictional advertising agency executive expressing your views
about the use of supermodels in television advertising.
- Do you
agree with this practice?
- Do you disagree?
- Do the benefits outweigh
any dangers?
- Compare your views with those of others and support
your position.
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Other great activities:
Model Collage
Review
the advertisements in fashion magazines and select examples
that show “real-looking” people.
Word
Collage
Collect
positive and negative words from magazine advertisements and
review how language
can make viewers feel they need to buy a product.
Brains or Beauty
Watch
twenty nationally run commercials and determine if beauty or
intelligence is more important.
Beauty
Through the Ages
View
artwork on listed web sites and redo a chosen commercial based
on the standards of beauty and social values you feel the art
piece depicts.
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