Advertisers Tread Lightly; Quietly Encouraging Consumers To Spend Again

INTRODUCTION:
Students will analyze how one national company responded to the recent tragedy by incorporating special messages into its advertising.

LESSON OBJECTIVES:
- Understand the role of advertising as it relates to current events
- Understand the techniques of persuasion used by advertisers
- Analyze and deconstruct current ad campaigns
- Discuss, criticize and/or defend current trend in post tragedy advertising

MATERIALS NEEDED: See Web sites listed below for articles and handouts.

ESTIMATED CLASS TIME: Recommended 50 minutes

CORRELATION TO NATIONAL STANDARDS:
MCREL MEDIA STANDARD 10 Understands the characteristics and components of the media
LEVEL III Grade: 6-8 Understands influences on the construction of media messages and images
LEVEL IV Grade: 9-12 Understand different aspects of advertising in media

BACKGROUND
Everyone agrees: September 11 changed everything, advertising included. Ad agencies all echoed the same messages: let's get back to what we do best but let's be careful we don't offend anyone.

The advertising industry was already in a severe downturn before September 11. Commercials on all of the major broadcast and cable networks were suspended for days following the tragedies, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue for the parent companies.

ARTICLES FOR READING
Have students read: The Mood of the Nation

HANDOUTS
An Advertising Call To Arms-Crafting The Messages that Help Win Wars
From Advertising Age magazine

A Primer on Analyzing TV Commercials
Before students can deconstruct, analyze or comprehend television commercials, they must understand that these productions involve complicated elements. This article offers sufficient background to begin analysis.

Specific Media Tools for Analysis
This Adobe Acrobat document contains some of the more common techniques of persuasion. Each student should have a copy of this as they begin to analyze advertisements. (there is also a version for younger students)

Checklist for Analyzing Print Advertisements
This checklist will come in handy as students gather and reflect about print ad techniques.

TEACHING STRATEGY
1. To introduce the idea of how American culture has changed since September 11, have students read The Mood of the Nation. This could be assigned the day before as homework.

2. Have students read Advertising Call To Arms. This article from Advertising Age magazine, the bible of the ad industry, provides sufficient historical background about advertising history in the time of war and tragedy. Ask students what role advertising plays in affecting the mood of the nation. Discuss the possible role of a War Advertising Council in the year 2001-2002 and have students predict the kinds of messages it might create and disseminate.

3. Ask students if they have seen the current TV commercials for United Airlines.
The spot is streamed on the ADFORUM.COM Web site:

If they have not, they can get a good feel for this spot by reading United Openly Speaks of Attacks in Ads.

4. Ask students why they think United decided to include references to the tragedy in their new ad campaign? List on the board, or an overhead projector, the exact reference words, phrases, or sentences.
Examples: "we took a blow, but we're gonna get up"
"we're not gonna let anyone take that (freedom) away from us"
"we're Americans, and this (tragedy) is not gonna beat us down"

5. Ask students what they remember from this spot? (i.e. faces of pilots, stewardesses; music playing the background; mood, etc.) Ask students to read A Primer on Analyzing TV Commercials How do these elements add to, or detract from United's message? Why do you think the employees of United wore their uniforms during the production? Ask students if they have seen or heard other commercials with references to the tragedy. What do they remember about the message or the company advertised?

6. Using the handout Specific Media Tools for Analysis, have students discuss which techniques of persuasion are utilized in the United campaign. (For example: testimonial is used when recognizable figures, in this case pilots and other uniformed United employees, talk directly to the consumer, thus increasing adding authority and authenticity to the message)

7. A key concept of media literacy is "all media are businesses, driven by profit." Have students read United Grapples with Crisis. Have students debate whether they think the current ad campaign will bring travelers back to United. Using the research tools of the Internet, students could also determine if the crisis is affecting other airlines. What steps are THEY taking to encourage travel by air?

8. Ask students to bring in copies of current event magazines (i.e. TIME, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Business Week, Fortune, etc)
Have them review the print advertisements, looking specifically for words, phrases and sentences that might relate to the current tragedy and its aftermath. Write these on the board, or an overhead. Do students see any trends in the verbiage used by advertisers? Students should have the handout Checklist for Analyzing Print Advertisements as they begin this exercise.

9. Encourage students to share their views on Sept.11 and the media in the "Sept. 11, Five Years Later" discussion at http://www.newzcrew.org between August 28 and September 25, 2006. The forum is run by students and is backed by content from the archive of the Online NewsHour.

Frank W. Baker is a media educator, who works for South Carolina ETV in Columbia SC. He is past president of the Alliance for A Media Literate America, a new national membership organization. He chaired the 1999 National Media Education Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1999, he co-authored a study of media literacy in state curriculum standards. The study is published on The Media Literacy Clearinghouse. Frank is also on the board of the National Telemedia Council, the nation's oldest media literacy organization.

To find out more about opportunities to contribute to this site, contact Leah Clapman at lclapman@newshour.org