All of us are bombarded daily with thousands of marketing messages, telling us how to look, talk, walk, smell, love, live, work and play, and assuring us that they're product or service is just the thing we need to make our lives better and happier. It's a challenge to resist the siren call of the fantasy life perpetuated in these ads and messages, and it can be very difficult for youth to do so.The New Mexico Media Literacy Project has a great resource to help young people think critically about the messages and methods of marketers. They offer a Deconstruction Gallery of more than 40 ads, everything from "bundled" communication plans to food and personal care products to alcohol and tobacco ads. Each sample provides the ad itself (whether video or print), a set of questions to consider, and a sample deconstruction for the ad.
Although I would like to see more sample ads that are aimed specifically at youth, the gallery is a useful resource for educators, parents and concerned citizens who want to help young people hone their media literacy skills.
Of course, we at IHE would add to their list of questions some of our own that help dive into the impacts of the products and services themselves on people, animals and the earth -- such as:
- What suffering, exploitation, or destruction is hidden from view? (In other words, what suffering to people or animals does the production of the product or the generation of the service lead to and/or what destruction to the environment does the product or service cause?)
~ Marsha
Like our blog? Please share it with others, comment, and/or subscribe to our RSS feed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment