Media Literacy: Teaching Critical Thinking with Campaign Commercials

MiddleWeb. (2016, July). Online [Image].
Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2ecmHfU.

In this digital age, media has become an integral part of our lives. Surveys in 2014 and 2015 reveal that 98% of Canadian households own at least one TV, that over 25 million Canadians watch videos online each month, and that 19.7 million Canadians own smart phones.[1] Given the fact that media consumption is so prevalent in their everyday lives, it is essential that students develop an ability to understand, create, and critically interpret media texts. As a teacher, I want to ensure that my students are active, analytical learners and creators of media rather than passive consumers. In this blog post, I will explore how campaign commercials serve as rich media texts that offer students a tremendous opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills as they analyze how campaign commercials are constructed and why they are produced.

Why Study Campaign Commercials? 

During an election season, students will likely hear or see campaign commercials frequently while listening to the radio or watching television.In her blog post entitled Social Media Literacy: The Five Key Concepts, Stacey Goodman discusses how all media messages are constructed with embedded values and points of view and have the potential to shape our perception of reality. It is important, therefore, for students to understand the danger of passively accepting information presented in campaign commercials as truth. My students are future voters and my hope is that, by analyzing campaign commercials, they will learn that being a critical-thinking, informed voter is an important aspect of responsible citizenship.

Analyzing Political Advertisements

In his blog post on MiddleWeb entitled Campaign Ads: Helping Students Find the Truth, Frank Weber emphasizes the educational value of dissecting campaign commercials as students develop their critical thinking skills by analyzing not only the message being presented to viewers but also the tools and techniques used to present this message. He highlights six key elements of campaign advertisements that students should consider when viewing this media text: the type of advertisement, the targeted audience, the key images, the sounds, the themes, and the words. 

In order to incorporate Weber’s idea of analyzing campaign advertisements into the classroom, I would choose two campaign commercials, one from each of the leading political parties, to show the students. If I were teaching this lesson this year, I might choose two advertisements from the current U.S. elections, or I could choose the following two advertisements from Canada's federal election last year in order to place the lesson in a Canadian context. 

CPCPCC. (2015, May 25). The Interview.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86-9HitWg0

Liberal Video. (2015, Oct. 9). Real Change Now!
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD5FAzvltpI

Given the fact that there are six different elements to analyze when viewing political advertisements, I would use the jigsaw method to encourage collaboration and discussion. Students would be divided into groups of six and each group member would be assigned one element to analyze when viewing the advertisements. For example, students who were assigned the words would consider how the use of language, word choice, and tone of voice used in the advertisement convey a certain message while students who were assigned the key images would consider how visual images such as clothing and prominent colours contribute to the overall message of the advertisement. Students would then share and discuss their analysis of their respective element with their group members in order to piece together a larger understanding of how and why a certain message was presented in each of the commercials. 

Once the students have finished discussing the campaign commercials in their groups of six, I would facilitate a large class discussion where students could share and compare their thoughts and perceptions with their fellow peers. During this large group session, I would also ask the students which commercial they found more effective or convincing and why. After this discussion, I would give each group the task of creating their own thirty-second campaign commercial in order to apply what they learned in their analysis of the advertisements.

Connections to the Ontario Curriculum

This activity of dissecting and analyzing campaign commercials fits well with the expectations outlined in the Media Literacy section of the Ontario Language Curriculum. The curriculum discusses how students should be able to understand and critically evaluate media texts, analyze how images, sound, and words are used to create meaning, and explore the use and significance of particular conventions and techniques.[2] As students watch and dissect the campaign commercials, their task is to critically interpret the media text in order to see how the message is constructed. Students consider who the creator and intended audience of the advertisement are and how this influences the message. They also consider how the clothing, music, and words of the commercials convey a certain message and how the use of conventions and techniques such as camera angles and lighting are intended to influence the audience. The students then apply the knowledge and skills gained through this analysis when they create their own campaign commercials. Thus, campaign commercials are a rich resource as students are able to develop the skill of critically interpreting what the message of the media text is and how it is conveyed.

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[1] Canadian Media Sales. Canadian Media Statistics. Retrieved from http://canmediasales.com/canada-101/canadian-media-stats/. 

[2] Ministry of Education. Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8: Language. 2006.