Sports Personalities in Advertising Lesson Plan
Level(s): Grades 7 - 9
Author: This unit was created by educator Arlene Petkau as part of a Media Education course taught by John Pungente at the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba.
This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.
Overview
In this lesson students explore the relationship between athletes and advertising through a number of different activities. Students deconstruct the "text" of ads featuring sports personalities, then research their own athletes’ endorsements then explore data collection to obtain a target audience in order to understand how audience negotiates meaning. Finally, students design their own ad or ad campaign for an athlete.
Learning Outcomes
Key concepts/big ideas: After this lesson, students will understand…
- Media are constructions: Students come to understand that advertisements are not neutral but are created through deliberate choices regarding which athlete to feature and which personality traits to associate with a product.
- Media have commercial implications: Students understand how and why sports personalities are used in advertising to support specific business models and how these commercial goals influence the creation and distribution of content.
- Audiences negotiate meaning: Students understand that different groups—defined by age, gender, race, or interests—interact with and interpret ads in different ways, and that advertisers specifically tailor campaigns to appeal to these variations in audience perception.
- Digital media are networked: Students understand that they are part of a network where their online actions (like taking a quiz or "liking" a post) serve as data that companies use to refine their target marketing strategies
Essential knowledge: In this lesson, students will learn...
- Reading Media: Students learn how to deconstruct the "text" of advertisements featuring athletes to understand how specific medium and genre elements are used to direct attention, communicate meaning, and provoke certain inferences.
- Consumer Awareness: Students learn about the commercial relationship between athletes and branding, including how advertisers use data collection (such as online surveys and social media interactions) to identify and obtain a specific target audience.
- Media Representation: Students learn how the representation of sports personalities in advertising influences audience perceptions of identity and reality, as well as how certain voices or perspectives may be intentionally excluded from a campaign
Performance tasks: In this lesson, students will demonstrate the ability to…
- Access: Research specific sports personalities and their endorsement campaigns to identify the types of products they support and the messages they convey; Interpret how techniques like camera angles, music, and slogans in various media formats direct the audience's focus.
- Use: Create an original media work, such as a print ad or social media post, that effectively uses the codes and conventions of advertising to promote a brand or issue; Apply media-making tools to communicate a specific message to a chosen audience.
- Understand: Analyze and decode ads to identify the intended target audience and the specific psychological appeals being used; Formulate survey questions designed to gather data on consumer behavior and audience preferences.
- Engage: Design a complete ad campaign for an athlete who does not currently have endorsements, requiring students to match an athlete's image with an appropriate brand; Evaluate media works by asking critical questions about what is included or left out and the implications of those choices for different social groups
Student-facing outcomes: We will learn how companies use the fame of sports personalities to promote products. We will think about how advertisers use media techniques to create emotional reactions. We will research the endorsement deals of different athletes and then design our own creative ad campaign that effectively uses a sports personality to sell a product or support an issue.
This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.