1

ADVERTISING Course: 2nd year level “A” 2009

Teacher: María Cecilia Carattoli

READING
1 Read the article and answer:
a How many advertising strategies does the article mention?
b What are the strategies about? Explain them in your own words. Write
two or three sentences about each one.

Marketing to Teens - Advertising Strategies

Advertisers have many methods to try and get you to buy their products. Lots of
times, what they are selling is a lifestyle, or an image, rather than the product.
Here are some tricks of the trade.

Ideal Kids (or families) - always seem Heart Strings - ads that draw you into a story
perfect. The kids are really hip looking, and make you feel good, like the McDonalds
with the hottest fashions, haircuts and toys. commercial where the dad and his son are
Ideal families are all attractive and pleasant shoveling their driveway and the son treats his
looking -- and everyone seems to get along! poor old dad to lunch at McDonalds when
Ideal kids and families represent the types they are done.
of people that kids watching the ad would
like themselves or their families to be. Sounds Good - music and other sound effects
add to the excitement of commercials,
Family Fun - a product is shown as especially commercials aimed at kids. Those
something that brings families together, or little jingles, that you just can't get out of your
helps them have fun together; all it takes is head, are another type of music used to make
for Mum or Dad to bring home the "right" you think of a product. Have you ever noticed
food, and a ho-hum dinner turns into a that the volume of commercials is higher than
family party. the sound for the program that follows?

Excitement - who could ever have Cartoon Characters - Tony the Tiger sells
imagined that food could be so much fun? cereal and the Nestlés Quick Bunny sells
One bite of a snack food and you're surfing chocolate milk. Cartoons like these make kids
in California, or soaring on your identify with products.
skateboard!
Weasel Words - by law, advertisers have to
Star Power - your favorite sports star or tell the truth, but sometimes, they use words
celebrity is telling you that their product is
that can mislead viewers. Look for words in
the best! Kids listen, not realizing that the
commercials like: "Part of..." "The taste of
star is being paid to promote the product. real....." "Natural...." "New, better tasting....."
"Because we care..." There are hundreds of
Bandwagon - join the crowd! Don't be left these deceptive phrases -- how many more can
out! Everyone is buying the latest snack you think of?
food: aren't you?
Omission - where advertisers don't give you
Scale - is when advertisers make a product the full story about their product. For
look bigger or smaller than it actually is. example, when a Pop Tart claims to be "part"
of a healthy breakfast, it doesn't mention that
 2

Put Downs - when you put down your the breakfast might still be healthy whether
competition's product to make your own this product is there or not.
product seem better.
Are You Cool Enough? - this is when
Facts and Figures - when you use facts and advertisers try to convince you that if you
statistics to enhance your product's don't use their products, you are a nerd.
credibility. Usually advertisers do this by showing people
who look uncool trying a product and then
Repetition - advertisers hope that if you see suddently become hip looking and do cool
a product, or hear its name over and over things.
again, you will be more likely to buy it.
Sometimes the same commercial will be
repeated over and over again.

2 Vocabulary

a) Dictionary work: Look up new words in a dictionary.

b) Key words:Underline key words in the article.
c) Make a vocabulary exercise: Choose 10 key words from the article and
make a word square or a crossword puzzle with clues (sentence, picture,
translation, etc) or design a different type of vocabulary exercise.
Write the solutions on another piece of paper. Then, exchange exercises:
you do your friends’ exercise and they do your exercise. Exchange
exercises back for correction.

3 Reading Comprehension
a) Make an exercise to practise reading: Questions, True or False?,
Multiple Choice, etc.
Write the solutions on another piece of paper. Then, exchange exercises:
you do your friends’ exercise and they do your exercise. Exchange
exercises back for correction.

AFTER-READING ACTIVITIES
1 Analysis of TV ads

a) Watch the TV ads and fill in the chart:

Product Brand Target Hidden Advertising
audience message strategy
 3

c) Discuss
Work in small groups and discuss the questions below:

Which ads …
1. tell a story or anecdote?
2. use image and no words or dialogue? Is this more effective? Why do you
think so?
3. have visual and sound effects? Does this make the ad better? How?
4. use celebrities to sell the product? Does this make a difference? Why?

d) Rank the ads in order of preference (1= the best).Justify your

choice.

e) HOMEWORK: Watch TV this week and choose five ads. Write a

text about each of them. Remember to check your grammar and
spelling. Include the following information:

Paragraph 1
 product (eg, mobile phone)
 brand of the product (commercial name)
 short description of the product
 target audience (children, teenagers, adults, general public)

Paragraph 2
 hidden message
 advertising strategy

paragraph 3
 your opinion : (what do you think about it and why? Is it good/interesting/great/terrible? , Has it got
good visual or sound effects?, etc)

You can start like this:

The (first) ad is about (a mobile phone) by (Movistar). It is a small colourful phone; it has got a
camera …