Macmillan Dictionary - Word of the Day

Friday, January 27, 2012

Ethics in advertising



How can consumers protect themselves from misleading advertising?
Consumers should:
  • Be attentive to advertising messages;
  • Get informed before they buy;
  •  Distinguish between advertising messages/pictures and reality;
  •  Talk to their children about the tactics used by advertisers;
  •  Complain when they feel misled/ fooled/deceived;
  •   Read labels and “the small letters”;


What should authorities do?
-          Should they allow advertisers to do whatever they want?
-                                               establish laws against misleading advertising?
-                                                 ban commercials that influence people to behave in an unethical manner?
-                                               ban commercials aimed at children? 

Videos 

After watching the second video, answer these questions:

1-     What are the chronic diseases caused by fast food?

2-      Who profits from children´s obesity?

3-      How do advertisers target kids?

4-      What can society do?

A debate on consumerism


On February we are going to have a debate/ role play on consumerism.
Students are going to work in groups of four or five and are expected to perform the role of the following  characters.

Groups of four:
A shopaholic, a psychologist; an advertiser and defender of the consumer society; an activist against consumerism.

Groups of five:
A shopaholic, a psychologist; an advertiser and defender of the consumer society; an activist against consumerism; a friend or a relative of the shopaholic.

  Get prepared!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Consumerism and advertising


We have been talking about the topic, Consumerism, which is divided in 3 different sets.

In the 1st set, we discussed the following topics:
·         the impact of the media in our society;
·         the difference between reality and the pictures conveyed by the media;
·         the making of a celebrity;
·         today’s focus on popularity and success;
·         the perpetuation of the impossible “thin” and eating disorders;
·         Body idioms and expressions;
·         Grammar: Infinitives and gerund;


In the 2nd set, we talked about:
  • the impact of advertising in our society;
  • commercial and non-commercial advertising;
  • goals of advertising (AIDMA)
  • what makes a good print ad;
  •  xamples of advertising in our daily life;
  • the differences between slogans and advertising messages;
  • grammar: modals
  • grammar: IF clauses type 3
We used videos such as, Emmy 2011 best commercial nominees ; Movie segments to assess grammar goals;


In the third set, we have been talking about:
  • ·         the ethics in advertising;
  • ·         examples of unethical/misleading advertising;
  • ·         protection against misleading advertising;
  • ·         aggressive advertising techniques;
  • ·         effects of junk food advertising on childhood obesity.
We have been using videos such as, " Food ad tricks;  "Effects of junk food advertising on childhood obesity ;