Unmasking Ads: Empowering Youth Through Counter-Advertising

1. Counter Ads Talk back to advertisements Created by Ananda Lennox, Northampton Prevention Coalition

2. What is a Counter Ad? • Pamphlet at Home Depot? • Ad for granite counter tops? • PSA that promotes mathematics for elementary-aged children? • Advertisement that takes messages from a real ad (often for a product that has associated health risks) and creates a parody of it in order to deliver a more honest depiction of the product?

3. Real Ad vs. Counter Ad

4. Why do this? • It’s fun • It’s purposeful • It’s creative • It’s powerful • It’s important • It’s honest

5. Counter Ad How To’s • Photovoice is a combination of three things- an issue that is important to you, a photograph, and a written narrative • Identify an issue that matters to you, photograph it, then write about it • Today we are going to create a Photovoice Project on the advertising of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana

6. Media Literacy • Do you have favorite brands? • Ever wonder why you like some brands more than others? • Have you ever wondered why adults sometimes do things that they know are bad for them?

7. BRANDS

8. Techniques Media Uses • Celebrity Endorsement • Romance/Sex Appeal • Popularity Appeal • Maturity or Sophistication • Fun/Relaxation • Scientific Evidence

9. Celebrity Endorsement

10. Sex Appeal/Romance

11. Popularity Appeal

12. Maturity or Sophistication

13. Fun or Relaxation

14. Scientific Evidence

15. What is a Target Group or Audience? • A specific group of people at which an advertisement’s message is aimed at. Examples would include adults, teens, children, mid-teens, preschoolers, men, or women.

16. Target Audience: Youth!

17. Truth in Advertising • Under the Federal Trade Commission Act: • Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive; • Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; • Advertisements cannot be unfair.

18. Kind-of-Truthful Ads • Here is the difference between an implied claim and an explicit claim: • "ABC Mouthwash prevents colds" is an explicit claim that the product will prevent colds. • An implied claim is one made indirectly or by inference. "ABC Mouthwash kills the germs that cause colds" contains an implied claim that the product will prevent colds. • Although the ad doesn't literally say that the product prevents colds, it would be reasonable for a consumer to conclude from the statement "kills the germs that cause colds" that the product will prevent colds.

19. Example of Photovoice on Media Even though I do not smoke and never plan to, this ad still gets to me. The guy in the ad looks so alive and free and I want to feel that way too. I don’t want to be a “maybe”, I want to be a somebody.

20. Media Photovoice Example She looks like she is heading somewhere on her own. That is pretty brave. I love her look and the orange color of the background. But do I need an e-cigarette to feel brave?

21. Media Photovoice Example Another perfectly dressed, beautiful woman in a big city trying to sell me alcohol. Enough already! Do I need to have Baileys in order to have a mind of my own, attitude, and class? I don’t think so!

22. Your Assignment • Pick an ad that you really like or really hate • DESTROY IT WITH YOUR WORDS! • Okay, to clarify- talk back to it. Break it down, show how its message doesn’t work on you because you are too smart to be tricked • Those who wish can read their narratives aloud. Extra points for work that is passionate and smart and contains no foul language!

23. Examples from Teens http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=tobacco&page=studentwork