Resources for Teachers - Marketing & Consumerism

Kids, Alcohol and Advertising - Lesson 2: Young Drinkers

In this lesson, students learn why the alcohol industry needs replacement (new) drinkers and how it exploits the needs and desires of young people in order to foster brand loyalty.

Advertising All Around Us - Lesson

This teaching unit helps students to become more aware of the language and techniques used in print advertising, as well as the impact of advertising on their daily lives.

Advertising techniques

How advertising works… even when you don’t realize it. Just letting kids know they’re being advertised to is not enough to make them engage critically with an ad. Helping kids recognize how advertising works is essential, too. Even young kids can become more skeptical about marketing when they’re told why and how ads try to persuade them.

Marketing to Teens: Gotta Have It!

In this lesson students identify how we associate social status with  brand name products, and how we believe others perceive us by what we wear. Students will also explore the notion of “brand identity” and how companies use social networks, and advertising strategies to create parasocial relationships with their consumers. To assess their learning, students then independently analyze the identity of a brand of their choice and create a mock ad that more openly communicates its implicit appeal. 

Co-Co's AdverSmarts

This interactive unit is designed to help kids between the ages of 5 and 8 recognize the marketing techniques used on commercial websites that target children.