How Are We ‘Supposed’ to Be

Overview:

This is the eighth lesson in the Reading Ads with a Social Justice Lens [1] series.

Advertisements often send constructed messages about how families are supposed to look, implying, for instance, that all families should live in houses and have a lot of money or that parents should be heterosexual. Only by recognizing these messages can children learn to avoid their often harmful effects such as marginalizing kids whose families are different, or whose homelife is different.

Objectives

Activities will help students

practice critical literacy skills in relation to advertisements; and
understand the meaning of difference and construct the importance of diversity.

Essential Questions

What messages do advertisements send about how families should look?
How might these messages impact different types of families?
Why would it be beneficial for advertisers to represent diverse families and homes?

Activities

Recall the work your class did in Lessons 6 [2] and Lesson 7 [3] examining representation in advertising. Explain that representation is comprised of two elements: who is shown and how they are shown. By representing people in a certain way again and again, advertisers send a message about the right way—or the only way—to be.
Remind students of the critical reading strategies developed in Lesson 2 [4]. Explain that today you will be using these strategies to closely examine the advertisements below. (Note: You may substitute any advertisement that shows a home and family. You might find advertisements in magazines or on websites your students frequent. For this lesson, it would be useful to find several advertisements for the same product category.)
Show students the advertisements and collectively analyse them using the critical reading strategies you developed in Lesson 2. Once you have discussed the advertisements thoroughly, ask students the following questions:
- What is true of the families represented in these advertisements and in many of the advertisements you typically see?
- How are the families in these advertisements similar to and different from the families you know in real life?
- What kinds of messages might the advertisements be sending about how families ‘should’ be?

Students may answer these questions as a group or in partnerships. Encourage students to address the representation of families as

having two parents (a mother and a father);

being socioeconomically comfortable; or

having one or two children.

If children raise other issues of representation, discuss those as well.

4. Ask students to imagine how they and others might be influenced by advertisements differently if they featured more diverse, and realistic, representations of families. Have students write a paragraph or draw a picture showing how this change might affect their feelings about themselves, their families and the people around them. If there is time, allow students to share their responses.

Reflection
Representation of families in advertisements is an issue children may want to discuss with their families. Encourage them to consider which aspects of their identities might be missing from advertisements. How does this deficit affect them—positively, negatively or not at all? Give students a chance to share their conclusions the next time you meet. Older students may also develop this activity into a formal survey or interview.