Media Lesson 3

Propaganda Unit for CSF Level 6 - Lesson 3 of 8

Identifying and Rating Persuasive Techniques in Print Advertising.

Duration of Lesson: 50 minutes

Student's Background Knowledge: This will be the third lesson of 8 on the topic of Propaganda Techniques in Advertising and Politics. In the last lesson, students identified persuasive techniques in war propaganda and advertising. In this lesson, students look at persuasive techniques used in print advertising.

CSF Outcomes for this Lesson:

6.3 Analyse and interpret the structure, content, and aesthetic qualities of media texts 6.4 Analyse the characteristics and role of the media in different cultural contexts.

Aims & Objectives: By the end of this lesson students should be able to:

Identify propaganda techniques used in print advertising.
Explain the intended effect of these techniques.
Describe the degree of misinformation present in print advertising.

Assessment: Using student notes and presentations Students will be assessed for their ability to identify persuasive techniques, explain their intended effects, and describe the degree of misinformation present in print advertising.

Resources and Materials: A selection of magazines and newspapers.

Classroom Organization: Students to pair up for this exercise.

Introduction (8 mins)

Explain to students that this is the third of a series of lessons in propaganda. Recap that in the last lesson we looked at persuasive techniques used in propaganda and advertising and discussed the effectiveness of these techniques. Today we will be scanning papers and magazines looking for instances of the persuasive techniques of propaganda in advertising.

Explain that we are looking at advertising as propaganda because, as described in Jowell & O'Donnell, (1986, p 148), "advertising is the most ubiquitous form of propaganda in our society." Explain the meaning of the word ubiquitous and explain how advertising, like propaganda, seeks to persuade the receiver of the message to act in a specific way, that is sometimes not in the best interest of the receiver of the message. Have students list some examples of this, for example advertising that encourages people to eat junk food, go on fad diets, buy expensive beauty products or cars.

Briefly go through some of the techniques again to refresh student's memories using The Language Of Persuasion as a guide.

Explain that we will also be looking at degrees of misinformation in propaganda today. Have the following descriptions, as described by Jowell & O'Donnell, (1986, p 17) on the board:

"White Propaganda": "When the source is identified correctly and the information in the message is accurate" For example, sun smart and Quit campaigns, or the supermarket specials of the week.
"Grey Propaganda": "When the source is not correctly identified and the accuracy of information is uncertain." For example, pictures of people in white coats advocating the benefits of beauty products.
"Black Propaganda": "When a false source is given ad lies, fabrications and deceptions are spread." For example, the ads for psychic chat lines in women's magazines.

Explanation of Task 1 (2 mins)

Students will be paired up. Each pair will be given a newspaper or magazine. Their task will be to find between 5 and 10 instances of the persuasive techniques of propaganda in advertising, and to rank the degree of misinformation present in the ads.

This time, students are to go beyond identifying the technique, but are also to consider the degree of disinformation used in the advertisements. They are to rank the degree according to whether they describe the propaganda technique as "White", "Grey" or "Black".

Write headings on board that students will use in their note books : Persuasive Technique Used:, Intended Effect:, and Degree of misinformation:

Students on Task 1 (30 mins)

Students write down the persuasive technique used, its intended effect and the degree of misinformation present in the advertisements.

Conclusion (9 mins)

Students report their findings to the rest of the class. Each pair presents an example of a print ad, the persuasive technique used and the ranking they gave the degree of misinformation in the ad.

Closure (1 min)

Students hand in their note books for assessment.

Contingency Plans: If print material is absent, students are to think of 5 advertisements they know well and describe the technique used and rank it's degree of misinformation.

References:

Jowett, Garth, S. & O'Donnell, Victoria, 1986, Propaganda and Persuasion, Sage Publications, Edited by Peter Clarke, University of Michigan.

The Language of Persuasion, New Mexico Media Literacy Project, 2001, http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:cn1c-lk80K4J:www.nmmlp.org/language.pdf+persuasion+technique&hl=en (Accessed, 24/5/04)