Overview:
This is the sixth lesson in the Reading Ads with a Social Justice Lens series.
Advertisements’ biased representations can affect our perceptions of others. For example, ads may show some groups of people more than others. They may also represent people in ways that reinforce stereotypes and biases. Children need to be taught to notice which groups are underrepresented or misrepresented in advertisements, particularly when the ads are in their own communities.
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
