Representation in Advertising

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Objectives 

Activities will help students

• Understand the concept of representation;
• Use tallying and charting skills to study representation in advertisements;
• Consider pros and cons of being well represented in media; and
• Use expressive language skills to comment on the consequences of and reasons for over- and underrepresentation.

Essential Questions

• What is representation?
• Why might it be important to be represented more in the media or, specifically, in advertisements?
• What might be some downsides to being represented frequently in media or, specifically, in advertisements?

Activities

1. Explain to students that they will be looking at a wide variety of advertisements in order to talk about representation. Elicit student ideas about what representation might mean. Explain that in the context of advertising, representation refers to the manner in which people are shown. If advertisements show a lot of girls, we might say girls are well represented. If advertisements rarely or never show immigrants, we might say that immigrants are poorly represented or underrepresented.
2. To maximize the number of advertisements students examine, select one of the following activities. Choose the one that is most realistic, accessible and meaningful for your students:
   • Have students surf the Internet for 15 minutes, noting the advertisements that pop up frequently on the websites they visit.
   • Have students spend 15 minutes perusing a group of children’s magazines from your school or local library, noting the advertisements they see.
   • Take a neighborhood walk with your students, noting the advertisements you see on signposts, buses and billboards.
   • Before the lesson, ask students to watch television for an hour at home, noting the advertisements that appear.
3. As students work, give them the handout to track their observations. For preliterate students, go over the handout carefully in advance. They can use simple tally marks to keep track of what they notice.
4. Once students have completed examining the ads, collect their handouts and go over their results. You can create a whole-class chart for better collaborative conversations. Discuss any patterns that emerge, and encourage students to think about what they mean. Ask: What might be some advantages to a particular group of people if they are well represented in advertising? What would be some disadvantages? What about advantages and disadvantages of being underrepresented?

Reflection
Representation might change significantly depending on the medium of advertisements. For example, groups well represented in children’s magazine advertisements might differ widely from groups well represented in advertisements during television shows. Ask students to pay attention to the idea of representation when they are at home, asking them to look for similarities and differences from your whole-class observations. Allow time for discussion and analysis the next time you meet.

Chart for Keeping Track during Observations
As you walk through your neighborhood or community, keep track of your observations about advertisements in the chart below. In column A, write the group of people you notice represented—or not represented. In column B, keep a running tally of how many advertisements show this group of people.