<p> Identifying Fallacies in Advertising</p><p>Subject: Understanding the techniques of advertisers </p><p>Audience: 12th Grade English</p><p>Standards Covered: </p><p>NYS: 1-4 </p><p>NETS-S: 1, 6</p><p>Objectives: Student will:</p><p> recognize, identify, and deconstruct the fallacies used in advertising</p><p> develop an understanding of the fallacies used in advertisements.</p><p> use spoken, written, and visual language to critically analyze advertisements and their </p><p> marketing strategies</p><p> identify, read, interpret, and critically discuss explicit and implicit messages sent by </p><p> companies about their products.</p><p> apply their new understanding of advertisement marketing and consumerism in </p><p> developing their own advertisements.</p><p>Materials: </p><p> Computer with Internet access</p><p> Dry Erase board</p><p> Dry Erase marker</p><p> Various advertising materials from magazines </p><p> Fallacies in Advertising Handout</p><p> GRASP Handout Anticipatory Set: Ask the students to do a quickwrite exploring the ways that advertising is used to influence people's decisions. Ask them to think of a specific product that they have purchased/or not purchased based on a specific ad. After a few minutes, ask students to share their answers.</p><p>1. Explain that you are about to begin an exploration of the role that advertising </p><p> plays in people’s lives and the techniques that are used in marketing. </p><p>2. Have the students begin constructing a list of the different advertisements they </p><p> typically encounter in their lives.</p><p>3. Break students into groups and ask them to add other types of advertisements to </p><p> the list (examples may include television commercials, magazines, movies, </p><p> billboards, malls, sporting arenas, and clothing). </p><p>4. Ask the groups to brainstorm places where there are no advertisements.</p><p>5. After the groups have had a few minutes to brainstorm, have the class regroup and</p><p> ask the students to share their ideas with the class and record them on paper to be </p><p> used again later. The students should find that it is virtually impossible to escape </p><p> advertising. </p><p>6. Ask the students what the word “fallacy” means and share the definition found in </p><p>Webster’s dictionary: an error in reasoning or a flawed argument. It is an </p><p> argument that does not conform to the rules of logic, but appears to be sound.</p><p>7. Pass out the Fallacies in Advertising Handout and review the list with the class. </p><p>Inform them of the lists and examples available online, using the sites provided to</p><p> them on the handout. 8. Then share the Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJRQAyw2_Ls </p><p> to show them examples of ads using fallacies. </p><p>9. Provide the students with the various advertising materials you have gathered </p><p>(one magazine for each group), and have them identify the fallacies used in the </p><p> different ads. Ask them to concentrate on these specific questions:</p><p> Who is the intended audience of the ad?</p><p> What fallacy is used to persuade this audience to purchase a product </p><p> or think or act in a certain way?</p><p> Is the ad reflective of a stereotype?</p><p> Do you think the ad is successful? Explain why or why not.</p><p> Do you think the ad could be harmful in any way? Explain why or </p><p> why not. </p><p>10. Have each group share their examples with the class and indicate which </p><p> fallacy they think each ad is using and why, encouraging other students to express</p><p> their opinions on the different ads. </p><p>11. Ask the groups to answer the questions provided on the Fallacies in </p><p>Advertising Handout.</p><p> What might be the impact of being told we are never pretty, </p><p> handsome, rich, clean, or good enough?</p><p> What might the abundance of fallacious advertisements be saying </p><p> about us?</p><p> What about political ads? 12. Break up groups, have each student log onto a computer and open </p><p>Microsoft Publisher. Provide a brief explanation of how to use Publisher to </p><p> develop an advertisement of their own. </p><p>13. Assign Homework: Pass out the GRASP handout, and instruct students </p><p> that they will now pretend that they are advertising agency representatives. Ask </p><p> them to develop their own advertisement and speech to be used in campaigning </p><p> for a company's business. The speech must include an explanation as to their </p><p> audience, the fallacy they are using, and why. Remind them to use the sites </p><p> provided on the Fallacy in Advertising Handout for further explanations. </p><p>Assessment:</p><p> Students will be verbally questioned for understanding.</p><p> Students will show their understanding through group discussion.</p><p> Students will show their understanding through informal writing assignments:</p><p>1. Quickwrites</p><p> Students will show their understaning through the formal writing assignment:</p><p>1. GRASP speech</p><p>Sources:</p><p> Youtube – Advertising Fallacies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJRQAyw2_Ls</p><p> List of Fallacies: http://www.fallacydetective.com/articles/read/short-list-of-fallacies/</p><p> Examples of Fallacies: http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/7fall00/active/fal-f00.html</p><p> Youtube - Asking the Right Questions-Fallacies (part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNmuOG8yp2s</p><p> Youtube - Asking the Right Questions-Fallacies (part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqDgYSmisb0&feature=video_response</p>