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Why is Media Literacy Important?
What do these all have in common?
• They entertain us with stories, music and all manners of art• They inform us about our world• They allow us to communicate with one another• They allow us to store, process and analyze data
Consider the movies for the Transformers. They took a popular cartoon from a generation ago and updated it for today 's generation of kids....
Would it surprise you to know the original cartoon was created merely as an advertisement for Hasbro to entice kids to buy toys?
It is paid for with advertising!
All these media have something else in common...
Advertisements are actually everywhere we turn!
From waiting for the bus, to crossing the street, surfing the net, or sponsorships of everything from Nascar drivers to student laptops!
You may have even paid a lot of money to advertise for companies that charge you more for their goods because there's an advertisement on them!
Corporations may use recognizable characters to put a “friendly human face” on a business…
*Click on bullets above for supporting information
Some ads shock us or prey on our fears:
Ads can appeal to our sense of patriotism, as seen in these WWII ads… The one on the left suggests the phone company provided a poorer level of service…
…so there would be more materials for the war! How do the other two seek the same effect?
Some ads affect positive societal change.
Can you describe how these ads appeal to our sense of sentimentality?…
Naturally, over time the mode of delivery has become more sophisticated…
Click ‘play’ to start
Advertisements can appeal to a sense of style, or in this case, a sense of vanity. What message does this ad send about Coke?
Have you heard the slogan from this commercial in YOUR lifetime?
Is there anything about this ad that you might not see in a cigarette ad today?
When does an advertisement cross the line from an amusing exaggeration….
What is the message implied about the effectiveness of this car wax?
…to a lie?
Consider this ad for Wal-Mart
It claims that Wal-Mart helps the communities it enters…
…when among other things, Walmart has been found to save millions of dollars in tax money that U.S. states would use toward things like education, by setting up companies to OWN the land its stores are on and rent the buildings – TO ITSELF!
Click here for source
Gr. 8 Language Arts Curriculum Expectations addressed by this assignment:
L.A. Curriculum, p. 13:
“Students’ repertoire of communication skills should include the ability to critically interpret
the messages they receive through the various media and to use these media to communicate
their own ideas effectively as well. Skills related to high-tech media such as the Internet, film, and television are particularly important because of the power and pervasive influence these media wield in our lives and in society. Becoming conversant with these and other media can greatly expand the range of information sources available to students, their expressive and communicative capabilities, and their career opportunities.
To develop their media literacy skills, students should have opportunities to view,
analyse, and discuss a wide variety of media texts and relate them to their own experience.”
L.A. Curriculum, p. 29:
“In language, students are encouraged from a very early age to develop their ability to ask questions and to explore a variety of possible answers to those questions… As they advance through the grades, they acquire the skills to locate relevant information from a variety of sources, such as books, newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, interviews, videos, and the Internet. The questioning they practised in the early grades becomes more sophisticated as they learn that all sources of information have a particular point of view and that the recipient of the information has a responsibility to evaluate it, determine its validity and relevance, and use it in appropriate ways.”
Media
• Making Inferences/Interpreting Messages
1.2 interpret increasingly complex or difficult media texts, using overt and implied messages as evidence for their interpretations (e.g. students to evaluate the text in a website, and determine whether it is both relevant to their thesis argument, and unbiased information)
• Responding to and Evaluating Texts
1.3 evaluate the effectiveness of the presentation and treatment of ideas, information, themes, opinions, issues, and/or experiences in media texts (e.g. use of the checklist to evaluate bias)
• Point of View
1.5 demonstrate understanding that different media texts reflect different points of view and that some texts reflect multiple points of view
• Conventions and Techniques
2.2 identify the conventions and techniques used in a variety of media forms and explain how they help convey meaning and influence or engage the audience (e.g using the criteria of the checklist to evaluate a website for bias.
Reading
• Extending Understanding
1.6 extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other texts, and to the world around them (e.g. connect content of the ads with their own experiences and determine the ad’s message and credibility)
• Point of View
1.9 identify the point of view presented in texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts; give evidence of any biases they may contain; and suggest other possible perspectives
Acknowledgements… Thank you to:
• Youtube.com and its users
• The Wall Street Journal
• The film, “The Corporation,” which inspired a good deal of this research
• cherryflava.com and adflip.com – both excellent sources of print advertising media
Apologies to Kool-Aid, which now makes “Kool-Aid Jammers,” which apparently are a great drink for diabetics!
(The same can not be said about the cup-of-sugar variety I drank as a kid!)
Note: Mr. Fuerth does not endorse any links Youtube may embed in its videos.
Copyright laws claim reproduction of a particular media work may be considered “fair,” for such use as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, etc.
