Resources for Teachers - Marketing & Consumerism

Packaging Tricks - Lesson

This lesson introduces students to the ways in which packaging is designed to attract kids.

Tobacco Labels

In this lesson, students debate the effectiveness of health warning labels on tobacco products.

Talking to kids about advertising

Today's kids have become the most marketed-to generation in history, due to their spending power and their future influence as adult consumers. By talking to kids about advertising - how it works and how they're targeted - we can help them to become more savvy as consumers and more resistant to the pressures to be "cool."

Body Positive Ads

This lesson helps students understand the relationship between body image and marketing by exploring Aerie and Dove’s body positive advertising campaigns. Students begin by reading about the impact that body positive advertising campaigns have on companies, as well as on their consumers. Students will then look at body positive ads aimed towards men and read research about how there is a lack of representation in this field. They will then deconstruct a series of traditional ads compared to body positive ones and discuss how marketers target "ideal beauty" messages to both men and women and whether they are effective. Finally, students will evaluate whether body positive ads are effective in general or not through discussion.

Sex in Advertising - Lesson

To introduce students to the use and prevalence of sexuality in advertising.