Released March 2007
Context
Whereas the Years 9 and 10 unit for Selling NZ deals more with the concept of the representation of New Zealanders, at Year 13 the focus is primarily on the language of advertising. Many of the techniques evident in the language of advertising can also be found in similar topics such as Propaganda and Oratory.
This unit examines the language of advertising and its effect. The DVD contains a fantastic range of advertisements from New Zealand dating back to the 1960s through to more recent times. Included are some real classics – The Dear John ad, Barry and Scotty and the internationally acclaimed Crunchie ad. Top stuff.
The unit contains detailed analysis of the advertisements, paying particular attention to the use of syntax and language techniques. Points to discuss are included and are designed to encourage students to think about not only the way a product is presented, but also give them the opportunity to reflect on their own personal response.
The unit is designed to provide students with a range of information to be used for the internally assessed Level 3 achievement standards 90725 Construct and deliver an oral presentation and 90726 Complete independent research on a language or literature topic and present conclusions in writing.
Outline
Students should begin with an introductory lesson on advertising and a discussion on what they think makes an effective advertisement. We are surrounded by so much advertising they will be familiar with a huge range of ads, but understanding why they think an ad is effective is important.
The students should also discuss the concept of a target audience and how these target audiences are treated by advertisers. A look at the differences between television advertising and other forms, such as magazine ads or billboards, will also prove useful.
A good approach to the topic is to use the participants’ relationships model, which is to examine the advertisements as a relationship between an advertiser and a potential customer. Once it is set up this way, the nature of that relationship can be explored (e.g. chatty, expert to expert, seductive etc). A subsequent reading of the advertisements can explore how the advertiser seeks to gain attention, arouse interest, create desire and cause action.
Students will watch the advertisements on the DVD. It may be useful to watch it in decades and stop for a discussion of factors such as gender roles – especially the ads from the 1960s.
Objectives
This unit aims to prepare students for internally assessed achievement standards 90725 and 90726 by providing a range of resources and information. By the end of this unit students will be able to:
- Identify the language features used in advertising
- Identify the target audience and intended effect of an example of advertising
- Analyse an example of advertising and evaluate its effectiveness.
Vocabulary List
Vocabulary types as a means of persuasion:
- Acronyms
- Brand names
- Comparatives (especially unqualified ones)
- Contracted verbal forms (e.g. ‘wanna’, ‘gizza’)
- Emotionally toned adjectives
- Imagery
- Intensifiers
- Jargon
- Modifiers
- Neologism
- Phrasal verbal forms
- Pronouns (particularly the use of ‘you’ and ‘we’)
- Pun
- Superlatives
Rhetorical strategies:
- Allusion
- Ambiguity
- Analogy
- Cliché
- Colloquialisms
- Innuendo
- Parallel structure
- Repetition
- Slogan
Sound devices:
- Alliteration
- Assonance
- Rhyme
Syntactical features:
- Adverbial phrases
- Exclamatory sentences (e.g. “More reliable than any man!”)
- Imperatives
- Incomplete sentences (minor sentences)
- Interrogative sentences
- Simple, compound, complex, compound-complex, loose, periodic sentences.
Many advertisements on the television employ traditional narrative techniques with clever use of plot, dialogue and characterisation. As well, students in the past have completed interesting analyses of Infomercials, particularly in their usage of the documentary format (use of presenter, interviews etc.)
Resources/Links
http://www.tki.org.nz This handy site contains the assessment information and exemplars for the Level 3 achievement standards 90725 and 90726. Go to NCEA on tki then to Internal Assessment Resources, English, scroll down to Eng 3/6 – A3 Say it on Words or Eng 3/7 A4 A Question of Language.
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/advertising/home.html
This site contains some excellent resources designed and created by NZ teachers for use at a variety of levels. This unit has a range of resources and a unit plan tailored to the Year 13 requirements.
http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/teachersguide.html
Has an interesting range of resources and suggested activities.
Allan Papprill’s Advertising, Persuasion and Oratory – a 1992 book, some of the ads are a bit dated, but this provides an excellent discussion on advertising. It contains sections on the psychology of advertising, semiotics and linguistic terminology.
Assessment
Formative/peer assessment – as they work through the unit, students can check their understanding of texts and ideas with peers and the teacher.
The formal assessment criteria for each of the internally assessed achievement standards 90725 and 90726 can be found at
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz or http://www.tki.org.nz
Activities
- Student Response Sheet which accompanies disk with teacher copy available
- Students select an advertisement from print media and analyse the language and visual techniques
- Students can create an advertisement for a magazine or billboard or television for a product of their choice, employing a range of language techniques.
- The information the students have is to be used as the basis for either the oral presentation or research project.
