Ottawa, September 26, 2005 – Media Awareness Network (MNet) today launched The Target Is You! – a new national education program for youth on alcohol advertising. This series of 10 lessons is designed to help young people understand the significant social and psychological effects of messages in alcohol advertising in influencing their attitudes about drinking.
Big Idea: Design Process
Skill Descriptor:
Use / develop design processes.
Achievement Indicators:
Big Idea: Design Process
Skill Descriptor:
Use / develop design processes.
Achievement Indicators:
Have you ever seen a photo or video online that seemed too good to be true? With today's technology, it's getting harder and harder to tell what's real and what's fake, especially with things called deepfakes.
In this lesson, students learn what makes something an ad and how to distinguish advertisements from reviews, focusing on the key concepts of genre, tropes, bias, disclosure, and framing. Students begin by viewing and analyzing a video to prompt critical questions about the creator’s intent and visual style, then delve into the advertising genre by learning about its essential elements, like the presence of a product and brand. Students examine the differences between the “ad” and “review” genre and also use companion reading skills to evaluate the reliability and potential bias of a source by searching for undisclosed "brand deal" or "sponsored" content. Finally, students create two media pieces about the same product—one crafted as a persuasive ad and the other as an honest review—to demonstrate their ability to apply the genre elements and tropes learned throughout the lesson.
This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Nunavut curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.
Students will…
3. Assess textual, numerical, aural, and visual information, as well as the source of the media, to determine context, perspective, bias, and/or motive. (G-3.2)
4. Self-assess ICT representations and go beyond established criteria by enhancing meaning and/or artistry, according to topic, audience, purpose, and occasion. (Pr-3.2)
This outcome chart contains Media literacy learning expectations from the Alberta social studies curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.
Sixty-two per cent of Canadian gamers are male:[1] and in a market targeted primarily at males, games that appeal to girls can be hard to find. Generally girls aren't interested in the violent "first person shooter" games favoured by boys, and many of the girl-specific games promote stereotypical interests such as cooking and babysitting. (Industry representatives claim these topics are chosen based on their surveys of what female games want.)
My teens are still young and new to social media, so until now, we’ve mostly been focusing on the risks. Our main message to them has been to be careful, and that less time online is always better.