Advertising and Consumerism Activities for Pathfinders
Tobacco Advertising:
Be a Tobacco Ad Buster Using tobacco ads from magazines have the girls create create their own "honest" tobacco ads or spoofs for international non-smoking day, Weedless Wednesday, which falls in January each year.
How about a Tobacco Tour Through Town? Use the ideas in this handout for a neighbourhood research audit of tobacco advertisements. Visit grocery stores, convenience stores and gas stations; search the streets for billboards and signs with tobacco advertising.
Truth-in-Advertising Show and Tell This handout offers ideas for comparing the content of truthful ads with the misleading messages in tobacco ads.
Buy Nothing Day The idea behind International Buy Nothing Day is to make consumers examine their spending habits and to think about the effect of mass consumerism on the cultural and natural environment of the world. You could celebrate by spending the day visiting a pioneer village or a museum or making something from scratch that you would normally buy, i.e. a loaf of bread, a handmade scarf, etc.
Truth in Advertising: Put It to the Test! Using this handout, turn your Pathfinders into advertising detectives. Pick a commercial that makes a very specific claim and then put it to the test at your meeting.
The Pursuit of Happiness This activity guide looks at how advertising sells a false image of happiness. Ask your unit to complete the Student Questionnaire. Next distribute the background handouts The Price of Happiness: Advertising and Image and What Do Advertisements Tell Us? Using what they learned have the girls create "honest" commercials.
And Now a Word From Our Sponsor... This activity guide examines the increasingly common practice "product placement" in movies and television.
Take Action on Advertising and Marketing It's important to recognize positive advertising campaigns that promote healthy portrayals of women and men. Kelloggs Special K ads are a good example of an unusual campaign that attacks the fashion industry obsession with thinness. Send letters of praise to companies that use non-stereotyped media images in their marketing.
