Looks Good Enough to Eat Lesson Plan

Food Marketing
Marketing & Consumerism

Level: Grades 5 - 7

Author: MediaSmarts

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

Overview

This lesson looks at food photography and the different techniques used by food stylists to make foods look appealing in advertisements. The lesson begins with a discussion about the challenges involved in food photography and how traditional elements of photography may be combined with "food tricks" to achieve the desired effects. After reviewing some food photography "tricks of the trade," students find their own food advertisements, identifying how they have been made to look unrealistic and then reshoot the advertisement on their own with real food without the tricks, comparing the differences.

Learning Outcomes

Key concepts/big ideas: After this lesson, students will understand...

  • Media are constructions: Students understand that food advertisements are not direct "windows" into reality but are "frames" created by professionals who make specific choices about how to present the food.
  • Media have commercial implications: Students understand that the primary purpose of these advertisements is commercial, aimed at making consumers hungry to drive sales.
  • Audiences negotiate meaning: Students recognize that their own individual reactions and feelings of hunger are a collaborative response to the techniques used by media makers.
  • Each medium has a unique aesthetic form: Students understand that food advertising has its own set of "rules of notice"—such as lighting and camera angles—and specialized "tricks of the trade" used to communicate its message.

Essential knowledge: In this lesson, students will learn...

  • Media Representation: How media shape our perception of reality by using unrealistic or misleading portrayals of food.
  • Consumer Awareness: The professional norms of the advertising industry, specifically how commercial pressures motivate the use of food substitutes and styling tricks.
  • Media Health: How advertising messages can influence personal choices regarding diet and health.
  • Making and Remixing: The fundamental technical elements of photography, including how "plating," lighting, and composition affect the final image.

Performance tasks: In this lesson, students will demonstrate the ability to...

  • Use: Effectively employ media tools (such as digital or phone cameras) to create their own media works while applying genre-specific elements like lighting and camera angles.
  • Understand: Critically evaluate professional food advertisements to identify specific "tricks of the trade"—such as using motor oil as syrup or white glue as milk—and explain the commercial intent behind these choices.
  • Engage: Participate in active media critique by reshooting a professional advertisement with real food, comparing their realistic version to the original, and reflecting on how commercial considerations influence media production.

Student-facing outcomes: We will learn about the special "tricks of the trade" that make food look better in ads than it does in real life. We will think about how these ads are designed to make us feel hungry. We will take our own food photos to compare marketing and reality.

Download the Ad or Reality? slideshow (PPT)

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

Lesson Kit