Return to Contest Home Page
Return to Website Home Page
Goals | Activities | Discussion Starters | Glossary | Resources | CSAP | Fast Facts
Skills for Critical Thinking About TV, Radio, Print, Videos and Movies
 |
The student will learn how to analyze and critique advertising. |
|
The student will be able to identify racial and gender issues in news and entertainment. |
|
The student will observe the media's role in politics and how polls reflect and shape public opinion. |
|
The students will be able to analyze film, video, television, and print for effects created through production and editing techniques. |
|
The student will become aware of what the news includes, what it leaves out, and why those decisions are made. |
|
The student will begin to recognize point of view and balance in reporting. |
| 1. | Go to the Internet site of an alcohol or tobacco company. Think about the age group they appear to be targeting. |
| 2. | Interview kids in your school to see how many own clothing with alcohol and/or tobacco company logos. Ask them why. |
| 3. | View and analyze a taped beer or wine commercial from TV. Discuss what the message really is. |
| 4. | View an alcohol TV commercial with the sound off. Make a list of the images and how they relate to alcohol use. |
| 5. |
Interview someone who has struggled with alcohol or tobacco addiction. Share the findings with the class. |
| 6. |
Locate an alcohol or tobacco magazine ad. Create a parody of that ad by redrawing it with more accuracy. (See examples at the "Adbusters" website: <http://adbusters.org/creativeresistance/spoofads/>) |
| 7. | Research some of the websites in the "Resources" section. List health facts about tobacco and alcohol use. |
| 8. |
Create an original ad
(for example: poster, newspaper ad, flyer, website, brochure, T-shirt
message) for |
| 9. |
Interview 3-5 adults surveying their attitudes about the media’s portrayal of alcohol and tobacco use. |
| 10. |
Create a bulletin board
showing the specific demographic groups that tobacco or alcohol ads
in magazines |
DISCUSSION STARTERS
| 1. |
Think about your “media diet”. Do you do your homework with the TV or radio on? Which form of media is the most important in your life? What media do you use in your bedroom? |
| 2. | Alcohol companies often sponsor sports events and concerts. What do you think their motivation might be? |
| 3. |
The media send out lots of messages about lifestyle choices. List the good and bad consequences of tobacco and alcohol use as seen in the media. |
| 4. | Have you ever seen a celebrity endorse alcohol or tobacco products in the media? Why do they do this? Discuss some ways they do this. |
| 5. |
Discuss the statement made in 1969 written as a report to the Philip Morris Co. board of directors: “Smoking for the beginner is a symbolic act ‘I am no longer my mother’s child , I am tough, I am an adventurer, I’m not square.’ (Smoke and Mirrors curriculum) |
| 6. |
. Look at a few tobacco and alcohol magazine ads and discuss “What is wrong with this picture?” Share your ideas and comments about the ads. |
| 7. |
What is the impact of seeing baseball players or cowboys chew tobacco on TV or in the movies? |
| 8. |
React to this statement made by Jean Kilbourne in “Telemedium”, The Journal of Media Literacy. “Huge and powerful industries - alcohol, tobacco, junk food, guns, diet-depend upon a media - illiterate population.” |
| 9. |
Discuss product placement after reviewing the definition in the enclosed glossary. |
| 10. |
Discuss how advertisers
try to connect a certain type of image with their product. |
Alcohol and Tobacco Information & Education Websites
alcohol ads:
www.med.sc.edu/medialit/alcoholads.htm
tobacco ads:
http://www.costkids.org/targetingkids/magazineads.htm
tobacco free kids:
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/
tobacco facts:
http://www.tobaccofacts.org/
http://tobaccofreekids.org/adgallery/
http://www.alcoholfreechildren.org
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/body/alcohol.html
http://www.smokefreecolorado.org
tobacco resources for teachers:
http://www.tobaccofacts.org/teacher/index.html
https://secure.tobaccofreekids.org/OrderGuide.asp
Cigarette Ingredients:
http://www.costkids.org/resources/resourcesframeset.htm
alcohol ads - spoofs:
http://www.adbusters.org/spoofads/alcohol/
free tobacco education materials:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/edumat.htm
Websites worth visiting:
http://www.cdc.gov
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/index.htm
Free poster:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sport_initiatives/tonyhawks_lg.htm
"Kick Butts" Day:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/tips_4_youth/kickbuttsday03.htm
Colorado Model Content Standard Specific to Media Literacy
|
Reading & Writing |
|
fact vs. opinion |
|
predict what happens next |
|
what happened first, second...? (sequencing) |
|
vocabulary improvement |
|
comprehension of ideas |
|
writing strategies |
|
organizational skills |
|
evaluation of photos, graphs, etc. |
|
analysis and synthesis of ideas |
|
reasoning |
|
personalization of facts (reflection) |
|
summarization skills |
|
persuasive writing |
|
relevance of information |
|
judge reliability of source |
|
fact vs. fantasy |
|
develop questions for research (Big 6) |
|
critical thinking |
Tobacco:
|
Tobacco's Toll: 647,003 kids have become regular smokers in 2002. |
|
207,041 will die prematurely from their addiction. |
|
Cigarettes kill more than 400,000 Americans every year - more deaths than from AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, drugs and fires, combined. |
|
The tobacco industry spends more than $8.4 billion per year - over $23 million a day - marketing its deadly products in the U.S. alone, much of this reaching kids. |
|
Cigarettes kill about 3.5 million people every year around the world. This is expected to rise to 10 million per year by 2030. |
Several studies found that the leading cigarette and smokeless tobacco brands all increased their advertising in youth-oriented magazines, such as Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone, after the November 1998 state tobacco settlement and that this advertising was reaching most youth at saturation levels of exposure.
Source: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/
Alcohol:
These sobering statistics show how alcohol affects the world of a child:
|
Alcohol is the #1 drug of choice among our Nation's youth. |
|
More than 40% of individuals who begin drinking before age 13 will develop alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency at some point in their lives. |
|
Almost one-fourth of eighth graders and half of tenth graders have been drunk. |
|
Forty percent of ninth-grade students reported having consumed alcohol before they were age 13. In contrast, only 26.2 percent of ninth graders reported having smoked cigarettes, and 11.6 percent reported having used marijuana before they were age 13. |
But you need to know that MOST — 80 to 90 percent — of middle school kids DON’T drink alcohol.
Source: http://www.alcoholfreechildren.org/gs/stats
Site design and maintenance by WORDGraphics L.L.C.