Advertising & Product Placement.

We encounter many ads every day of our lives. Some ads we are consciously aware of what we are viewing and other have been cleverly placed to influence our thinking without consciously realizing it,  There are many subtle yet powerful ways that we come across advertising in our daily lives and we are going to take a closer look at just how powerful these ads can be.



To get started we are going to watch “A Brief History of Conspicuous Product Placement in Movies.” to see how different movies have used product placement over the years. As you are watching create a list of all the products that the video shows and what film it was in.



Your task today is to find other movies that you can have  watched that have examples of conspicuous product placement in them. Create a list of movies and products and answer the following questions:
1) Why do you think movies use this kind of product placement?
2) Do you think that it is effective? Why or why not?
3) Have you ever been influenced by a product placed in a movie?
4) 10 examples of product placement in movies other than the examples from the video

Include all of this in a blog post titled "Advertising and Product Placement"

Advertising

As you already know from our discussion in class yesterday we are going to be looking at advertising. Right now we will be focusing on what makes ads effective and how they target different groups of people.
For your next assignment you must find ads for two similar products and deconstruct them to find which is the more effective of the two.

Include the ads that you are using and answer the following questions for each ad.
Use your handout from yesterday to help you answer these questions.

Advertising Assignment

1. Who is the intended audience?

2. How does the ad appeal to them?

3. What visual element(s) does the ad contain? How are they used? (Refer to handout).

4. What story component(s) are contained in the ad? How are they used?

5. What need(s) does the ad exploit? Explain.

6.   Does the ad address a social issue? How?

7. In your opinion, is the ad effective? Give at least 3 specific reasons why/why not.

8.      Which of the two ads is the most effective? Why?

Mass Media and Advertising

This week we are moving on to look at advertising.  Advertising is a very powerful and prevalent means of  communication. Advertisers use various media and methods to sell their products.

To begin I want to look at adverting over the years and how it has changed. What you need to do it create a PAGE on your blog titled "Advertising"
On this page I want you to find ads from 1950 to present day. I want you to find at least two examples of ads from each decade and clearly label which decade the ad has come from on your page. You can choose what kind of products that you want to look at as long as they are school appropriate. You can use images or videos as examples. Some examples of products you can look at are cars, toys, food, appliances. electronics, beauty products etc.

Digital Citizenship

Today we are going to shift our focus to digital citizenship. Your task is to take a look at George Couros' blog and what he has to say about digital citizenship. His blog is aimed at educators, but it still has a lot of good information for you to read. 

After you read what he has to say copy and paste and answer the following questions in a new blog post titled Digital Citizenship. 

1. How would you define digital citizenship? What does that even mean?
2. When using social media, would you consider yourself a good “digital citizen?” Do you use social media to post positive things about yourself and others?
3. Is our school’s “digital citizenship” practice a pass or fail?
4. Rate our school using the rubric at the bottom of the post – what number would we get?
5. What could we do differently?

Viral Videos and Memes

Two forms of mass media that have taken today's society by storm are YouTube with viral videos and internet memes.

We are going to be discussing what are viral videos how do they become viral.

The biggest video of 2015 was Silento - Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) #WatchMeDanceOn

This dance became so popular everyone was filming themselves doing it. Here is the best Vine's compilation of Whip/ Nae Nae

To check out the top 10 youtube videos of 2015 go here!

Your task for today is ON YOUR MEDIA LOG PAGE answer the following question. (Remember to date and title this as you will just keep adding to the page, not create a new post on your blog)

1. Define viral video and internet meme

2. Answere the following questiong about this TED talk clip ; Kevin Alloccca: Why Videos go viral

1. How many hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute?
2. What three criteria does Kevin Alloca set for viral videos?
3. What is the role of a “tastemaker.” Who does Alloca use as an example?
4. With this form of media, who defines the popularity?
5. How are viral videos and internet memes different from other forms of media? (think about who is consuming vs who is creating
6. Include two of your favourite viral videos that we did not watch in class today.

Finally include two examples of  your favourite internet memes 

Check out the board by the door in my classroom for a few of my favourite school related memes. Plus a couple more here that I found funny!

Generations of Pop culture

Now that we have looked at pop culture for your generation we are going to compare it to that of your parents and grandparents.
What was considered pop culture when your parents and your grandparents were your age. You can choose how to display each generation of pop culture, but you must include a paragraph at the end with your thoughts about how pop culture has changed through the years. Are there any similarities? What are the major differences? Was there anything that surprised you?  

Media Images: Fact or Ficiton

Today we are looking at teen magazines and what kind of message they send us about teenagers.
The following questions need to be answered on your Media Log page of your blog. (This can also be found on the handout I gave you or you can look at a digital copy of the assignment under the "Assignments" tab)

• As an individual, what did you learn from the analysis of the magazines?
• Were you surprised by anything? Why or Why not?
• What kind of magazines would you like to see for teens?