Materials: TV/VCR.

As students will see in Affluenza, marketers are watching children shop, and going into their bedrooms to find out what kinds of products children like. In Affluenza, marketers say that using anti-social behavior to sell products to children is "a good thing." They also speak of "capturing" and "owning" children, and that messages showing aggressive behavior are a good way to sell products to boys.

Start video when screen reads: "So what keeps on the work and spend treadmill?" (about 6:03 on the counter) This clip is used with both the What Are Advertisers Selling? and Who Are Advertisers Selling? activities.

Stop video when screen reads: "Empowered child?" (about 10:54)

Discuss: Most people think advertising is about selling products. In truth, advertising is about selling audiences to the advertiser, not selling products to the buyer. The system looks like this:

Product Producer
(
Distributor
(
Advertiser
(
The Public

The product producer interacts with the distributor, who also interacts with advertisers. The advertiser interacts with the distributor and the public. The product producer does not directly interact with the public and the public only interacts with the advertiser.

Ask students: Who do you think makes the most money from advertising? The product producer, the distributor or the advertiser?

Option for younger students--choose one or two products that the students use. Find examples of print and broadcast advertising that the students feel is aimed at them. How do they think advertisers decided that they would like to buy those products?