Kids, Alcohol and Advertising Lesson Plan

Alcohol Marketing
Marketing & Consumerism

Level(s): Grade 4 to 8

Author:  MediaSmarts

Duration: About one hour, plus time for the assessment activity

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

In this lesson, students learn to recognize how the advertising genre is used to build brand loyalty for "parity products"—products like alcohol where there is little difference in taste or performance. Students learn to deconstruct the "Three Ps" of branding: Personality (the product's "vibe"), Position (the target audience), and Promise (the fantasy sold to the consumer). The lesson culminates in an "Ad Satire" assessment where students create a parody ad that "unmasks the brand" by flipping a glamorized media promise into a realistic social or medical consequence.

Learning Objectives

Key Concepts/Big Ideas: Students will understand…

  • Media are constructions: Media works are built by makers who make deliberate choices to achieve a particular purpose.
  • Media have commercial considerations: The alcohol industry uses image advertising to recruit youth as "replacement drinkers" and ensure long-term profit.
  • Audiences negotiate meaning: Students have the power to engage in resistant readings by subverting an ad’s intended message through parody.

Framework topics: Students will learn…

  • Consumer Awareness: 
    • The definition of a parity product and why branding is more important for these items than for products with distinct merits
    • Specific tropes and practices of ads for parity products, including the technical definitions of Personality, Position, and Promise.
  • Media Health: The contrast between the industry’s "fantasy" portrayals and the real-world consequences of alcohol use, such as social regret or health risks.

Key vocabulary: Genre, parity product, parody, satire

Core Competencies: Students will be able to…

  • Understand: Critically evaluate and deconstruct advertisements by following a question sequence from factual observations to interpretive meaning.
  • Use: Apply "Think-Aloud" strategies to identify how visual elements (such as color, symmetry, and mascot use) are used to inflect a message.
  • Engage: Create an original parody ad that uses exaggeration to communicate a serious health or social message.

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit