1. Consumer Culture Are we being bought? Website Link –

2. Week 1 - What do we know about being persuasive…
What’s the first word that comes to mind when I say persuasive/advertising/consumerism.
Write on your sticky note one word/idea.
As a class divide the words into the following categories….
catchy slogans
persuasive phrases used
figurative language techniques used (for example, hyperbole, alliteration and repetition)
appeals to emotions
verbs and modality suggesting some benefits, but no firm guarantees (for example, may, can, could and should).

3. Week 1 - Why do we love brands so much?
Play the Logo Game as a class.
Logos- are one way for consumers to remember, and hopefully prefer, a product. It is a technique that advertisers use to give a ‘face’ to a brand.
Watch - Secrets of the Superbrands – Food
Take notes as you watch it about the secrets that Alex Riley uncovers as they watch an episode devoted to food super brands.
Create a mind map based on your notes about the power of brands and how advertisers
Questions
Why has Coca Cola become such a successful brand?
Why is Irn-Bru so popular in Scotland?
What difference does a label make?
Why do companies want to recruit the teenage consumer so badly?
What is meant by ‘brand personality’?
How important is the reputation of a brand?

4. Week 2 - Advertising techniques
TASK 1 - Stick in advertising Glossary worksheet - fill in first section, brand name familiarity (including slogans)
TASK 2 - What advertising techniques are used in the following adverts?
Colgate Toothpaste -
48-hour detox -
Amazon kindle vs iPad -
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 -
Fill in the worksheet - What & Who?
What is being advertised?
Who is the target audience?
What advertising techniques are being used?

5. Week 3 - Emotive language, sound & images
Emotive Language – Advertisers use language to appeal to our desire to obtain a bargain or to present a product as being a breakthrough in technology.
Infomercials in particular make heavy use of the language of appeal or emotive language.
Language examples - ‘buy one, get one free’ or ‘order now and you will receive a bonus’, new, free, fast.
SHAMWOW -
Cover Girl -
Ipad –
TASK 1: Poster Advertisement – Look at the next page and fill in the worksheet
How did the poster use the following techniques to get their message across? Gaze, angle, social distance
TASK 2: Fill in the Digital Advertising Glossary – ‘The language of appeal’, celebrity endorsement, authority endorsement, bandwagon/status appeal, quality claims and beauty appeal. Use examples from last week and this week.

7. Week 4 - Fads
Fads - Once in a while someone has a great idea that becomes a fad. It can be a product or craze or form of behaviour that is immensely popular for a short time.
In advertising terms, this popularity is called the bandwagon effect: people doing certain things because other people are doing them, regardless of their own beliefs, which they may ignore or override. Once a product becomes popular more people tend to get on the bandwagon and buy it too.
What are some fads that you know about?
Throughout history there have always been fads. However, while some fads have gone on to become classics, others have just faded from popular culture. Anyone can have an idea that becomes a fad, and fads sometimes make their creators quite wealthy.

8. Week 4 & 5 - Fad advertisement assignment
Watch SHAMWOW ad again.
TASK: As a group create and develop a FAD campaign a product.
Plan, Create Resources, Rehearse, Film
DUE: Friday Week 5
Your advertisement will need to include….
The name of the product
A description & use of the product
Benefits of the product
Cost of the product

9. Week 6 - Connections between advertising & lifestyle (super brands)
Watch -
‘Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street;
fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.’ Coco Chanel
Watch - Secrets of the Superbrand – Fashion
– opening sequence & 35:31
Answer the following questions…
What reaction do the children have to the shirt with the Nike symbol?
What kind of person do they associate with the Nike tick?
What kind of lifestyle is associated with the Nike tick?
How has this symbol become such a famous one in popular culture
ACTIVITY: Design a symbol that you would like on a shoe or clothing brand.

10. Week 6 - Online marketing
How has consumer habits changed due to Technology?
Where do you see advertising on the Internet?
Language with online advertising
pop-ups – advertisements that pop up onto the screen
QR codes (or quick response codes) – two-dimensional patterned codes that can be read by code readers such as smartphones, allowing quick access to a brand’s website and recorded data
going viral – a term that has emerged in relation to the way a message (including advertisements) spreads over social media. What are some examples of ideas that have gone viral?
Ideas that have gone viral
Gangham Style -
Volkswagen Add -
Queensland Job Advertisement -
Google Story – Google (which provides a search engine facility to millions of users per day) has been labelled the most visited website on Earth. It does not charge people to use the service, yet it is one of the most profitable companies in the world. So why is Google so successful?
TASK: Use the Google search engine for five search topics that result in at least three sponsored ads coming up. Write your answers in your book & fill in the worksheet.
How do we know that these are paid advertisements?
Where are the advertisements positioned in the search list? 
Did you already know about Google advertisements?

11. Week 6 - Needs vs wants
Write down the last 5 things you purchased or were purchased for you by your parents.
Next to each item write down if they were a ‘NEED’ or ‘WANT’
Watch Teenage Affluenza –
If so many of our purchases are wants rather than needs and when we think about it we know that we can live without these things, what compels us to want so much?
Are we being bought?

12. Week 6 - ETHICAL Consumerism
Where are the things that you buy come from?
Who makes them?
WATCH – Ethical Consumerism -
TASK: Write a definition for ethical consumerism and complete the scenarios.
Consumerism Definition: The belief that it is good for people to spend a lot of money on goods and services and the actions of people who spend a lot of money on goods and services.