Level: Grades 2 to 3

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 1-2 hours

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

Overview

In this lesson, students consider the role of snack foods in a healthy diet. The teacher then guides them on a tour of popular sites aimed at children, where the class identifies and classifies the advertising encountered there and looks at how the food products being advertised fit – or don’t fit – in the food groups found in the Canada Food Guide. Students then play the game Co-Co’s AdverSmarts to understand some of the techniques used by online food marketers and then create their own mock website promoting a healthy diet.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• begin to develop an understanding of the commercial objectives of immersive online environments, specifically those characteristic of food products’ websites
• identify the purpose and the intended audience of these types of websites and describe how audiences might respond
• recognize and identify the advertising and marketing elements and characteristics associated with commercial websites
• identify overt and implied messages of websites that market to children their age
• utilize their information to simulate the creation of a media text
• demonstrate an awareness of the types of foods needed to maintain a healthy body
• identify the nutritional quality of foods advertised in online spaces aimed at children

Home and School Connection

• Talking to your kids about advertising
• Dealing with Marketing: What Parents Can Do
• Co-Viewing With Your Kids

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