Packaging Tricks Lesson Plan

Food Marketing
Marketing & Consumerism

Level: Grades 1-4

Author: MediaSmarts

Parts of this lesson have been adapted with permission from the Media Literacy Guide, Saskatoon Board of Education, © 1994, and from A Practical Guide for Parents: Advertising, Nurtrition and Kids, a guide created by The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) and the International Food Information Council (IFIC).

Duration: 40 minutes

Reading Media icon from the digital media literacy framework.Consumer Awareness icon from the digital media literacy framework.media health icon from the digital media literacy framework

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

Overview

This lesson introduces students to the ways in which packaging is designed to attract kids. The class begins with a discussion about packaging and how the design, promotions and product placement all contribute to make a product attractive to consumers. In a series of individual and group activities, students compare similar food products based on packaging and on taste; assess the nutritional value of the foods and beverages they enjoy; and participate in a field trip to a local grocery store to see how packaging and placement affect consumer choices.

Learning Outcomes

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand…

  • Media are constructions: Students understand that food packages are not "neutral" containers but are carefully constructed by creators who make specific choices about logos, characters, and slogans to direct the audience's attention.
  • Media have commercial implications: Students understand that packaging is an industrial business tool designed to build a brand and generate profit by convincing consumers to buy the product.
  • Audiences negotiate meaning: Students understand that while a package is designed to give them "good feelings" about a brand, they must use their own judgment to compare the marketing "tricks" against the actual nutritional information

Essential knowledge: Students will learn…

  • Consumer Awareness: Students learn that packaging is a type of advertising that uses specific techniques—including brand mascots, bright colors, slogans, and prizes—to compete for their attention. They also learn how the physical placement of food in a grocery store, such as putting "kid-friendly" items at eye level, is designed to influence what they want to buy.
  • Reading Media: Students learn how different design elements communicate meaning, such as how specific lettering styles can make a product feel "old-fashioned" versus "extreme".
  • Media Health: Students learn to identify and interpret mandatory information on food packages, such as the ingredients list and the nutrition facts label, to understand a product's actual health value

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Understand: Analyze cereal boxes to find and categorize specific advertising elements like brand logos, characters, and links to apps or websites; Evaluate the truthfulness of packaging by comparing "kid appeal" scores against nutritional scores derived from the daily value percentages of sugar, fat, and vitamins.
  • Engage: Create an original cereal box design that incorporates marketing elements like a cool mascot and a catchy slogan to attract other kids. Observe and map a local grocery store to determine how the store's layout and food placement steer consumer behaviour.

Student-facing learning goals: We will learn that food boxes use tricks like bright colors and fun characters to make us want to buy them. We will think about how these tricks affect us and how to tell if a snack is actually healthy. We will read labels to see what is inside and learn that different boxes can hold the same food.

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

Lesson Kit