Session 3 - Targeted Advertisements and Demographics

GOALS:
- Know: key terms: demographics
- Understand: that advertisers make broad generalisations about groups of people to sell products and services
- Be able to: think critically about what ‘target audience demographics’ you might be a part of
-

How might you be ‘targeted’ by advertisers? What characteristics would they look for?

ACTIVITIES:

1. Warm up: Read this text. Have a brief discussion about ‘the Big 5’ with your table:

a. Context - author, audience, purpose

b. Content and theme
c. Tone and mood
d. Style
e. Structure and layout

2. Worksheet: Make a copy or print the following worksheet. Complete the activities contained
within.

3. Ad analysis: Find an advertisement with a group. Analyse it (using all key terms previously
learned) using the following guiding questions:

a. What is the target demographic for this advertisement? How can you tell?

b. What is the potential for ideological influence on the target audience? Is this a
positive or negative influence?

c. How does the advertisement use language to convince (ideas) or persuade (action)
the target audience?
TOWARDS ASSESSMENT:

- FOA: You could pretend to work at a marketing company, discussing ideas for a new
advertising series for a particular product and audience. This would be a great opportunity for
a nuanced discussion of context and how language could be used to effectively target and
persuade this audience. You should respond to a particular advertisement or ad campaign.
Alternatively, you could pretend to work for a consumer watchdog corporation, discussing the
(potentially) harmful messages send by a certain company’s recent advertising campaign.

- WT: Advertisements can create some strong reactions in people - anything from fierce loyalty
to vitriolic anger. Why not right a letter to the company / advertiser of today’s texts to show
your emotional reaction? What if you don’t like being ‘pegged’ in a particular stereotype? You
should respond to a particular advertisement or ad campaign.

NEXT LESSON:
- Counter advertising and guerilla ads

HOME-LEARNING:
- Watch a TV show and think about the target audience!

BONUS CHALLENGE:
- Today we learned a range of persuasive techniques used in advertising. You could hunt for
ads on the Internet and try to identify these techniques in use, evaluating their effectiveness.

- Alternatively, why not find out about newer persuasive techniques used on social media. How
is technology changing advertising?