Subject / Course: English (grade 7)

Topic: Media and Advertising

Lesson Title: Discovering the Target Audiences

Lesson
Strand: Media 50 min
Duration:

Lesson Objectives (Big Idea):

Students will be able to understand how commercials target boys and girls separately
and question why that is.

Curriculum Expectations:

Media:
1.1 explain how various media texts address their intended purpose and audience
1.2 interpret increasingly complex or difficult media texts, using overt and implied
messages as evidence for their interpretations
1.4 explain why different audiences (e.g., with respect to gender, age, nationality,
ability/disability income level) might have different responses
2.2 identify the conventions and techniques used in a variety of media forms and
explain how they help convey meaning and influence or engage the audience

Materials/Resources:

Teacher needs laptop, projector, speakers

Students need laptops.

Lesson Body:
 1. 2 min: Begin class with video on marketing toys for girls vs boys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CU040Hqbas
Introduce definition of bias and how it is prevalent in all forms of media.
2. 10 min: Same product sold to boys and girls separately:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgdj5FXOOp8
Discuss:
Who are they aimed at?
3. What ways are they different? (Colours, music, tone of voice, narrators gender,
suggested activities- destruction vs building-, and accessories- trucks vs sea
creatures and mermaids.
How do we know this?
4. 25 min: Individual Activity: Show Commercial and students have to identify 1.
Target audience, 2. Justification, 3. How it can be altered to be inclusive to all.

Targeted Audiences

Watch the commercial below and answer the following questions. (Only watching
from 0:59-1:18)

https://youtu.be/bI4xlFrtHjc?t=59s

1. Who is the target audience (boys, girls, adults, teenagers, etc)

2. List 3 strategies that were used to make it more appealing to that audience.

Strategy Description

Ex: toys It only shows trucks and construction machines.

 3. Using your 3 strategies from above, change them to make it appealing to boys
and girls.

Strategy Description

Ex: toys The commercial can show many different toys like
play food, airplanes, and electronics to appeal to
boys and girls.

Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

Grammar Writing is free of Writing has few Most spelling, Spelling,

spelling, spelling, punctuation, punctuation, and
punctuation, and punctuation, and and grammar grammatical
grammatical grammatical correct allowing errors create
errors. errors. reader to distraction,
progress though making reading
writing. Some difficult;
errors remain. fragments,
comma
splices, run-ons
evident.
Errors are
frequent.

Content Content is Content is Content is Content is not

clearly clearly understandable, understandable,
expressed, very expressed, well and contains and contains
well thought out, thought out, well some details. little to no
extremely well written, and Incomplete or details. Point
written, and contains a good fractured form.
contains strong amount of sentences.
details. Full details. Full
sentences used sentences used.
with larger
vocabulary
words.