Be a Black Dot Advertising Executive Part Two!

On the final day of the Black Dot Project, the students spent the bulk of the time finishing their collages:










Their final projects turned out terrific! The students created collage "ads" featuring the following messages: eat more fruit, eat less junk and eat more fruits, don't eat junk, drink more water, and play more sports.










For the final activity, the students posted their work on the chalkboard and participated in a critique in which they discussed which "ad" they thought had the strongest message and why. They were also required to discuss the merits of each "ad".

Be a Black Dot Advertising Executive!

The most recent activity the WASC fifth graders have undertaken is "Be a Black Dot Advertising Executive!" The purpose of this activity is to create a collage that "advertises" a positive, character-building message. The collages themselves are created from images cut out of magazine advertisements.

The first thing we did was engage in a discussion in which the students were asked to think about what kids really need (such as more exercise, vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, and less junk food, video games, and soda pop) as opposed to what advertisements tell them what they need. Based on this, they generated a list of positive "messages" that they felt should be "advertised" to other kids. This list included messages such as: "Play more sports", "Eat more fruit", "Eat vegetables", and "Drink more water".







After the discussion, the students completed a worksheet with the help of their teacher Ms. V. in which they laid out their ideas for their collage. The questions on the worksheet included: 1) Write down your ad's message in one short and sweet sentence; 2) Write down FIVE persuasive phrases you will put in your ad; 3) Write down THREE kinds of images you will look for to include in your ad.







Once they were finished with their worksheet, they were permitted to take some magazines and some other supplies to begin working on their collage "advertisement". They spent the rest of the session working on their collages, and will continue working on them next session (May 18).









The lesson plan for the day's activities can be uploaded here. The worksheet for the collage activity can be uploaded here.

Black Dot a Dandy Ad!

Last Friday the students had the opportunity to get creative with the Black Dot a Dandy Ad! activity. For this activity, the students had to first look through magazines to find a food ad:








After they found an ad and glued it on to a sheet of paper, the next step was to turn the ad into a Great Ad by looking through their magazines for persuasive words and phrases, cutting them out, and pasting them onto their food ad to create a collage.








Once their collage was created, each student received a transparency strip of five black dots. They were to cut out these black dots and then "sneak" them into their collages.








The end result was a Black Dot Dandy Ad:







When they had all finished their Black Dot Dandy Ad, I had them display their work on the chalkboard so I could lead them in a short critique. The questions I used to generate discussion included "Which ad is the sneakiest and why?" and (in the interest of making sure every student had their work discussed) "What can you tell me about this Black Dot Ad?"

NYT article: You Are What You Grow

This past Sunday (April 22), the New York Times published an article titled "You Are What You Grow," which you can read here. While it isn't about advertising per se, it is still relevant to this blog because the author discusses why processed food (the stuff featured on countless advertisements) is so cheap compared to fruit, vegetables, and other whole foods. In a nutshell, processed foods are made from subsidized crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat, while vegetable and fruit farmers do not receive such subsidies.

Anyway, this article is very worthwhile and I encourage all visitors to this blog to read it.

All Black Dot Project photos are now available for viewing on Flickr

Due to potential space constraints, I prefer not to include all of the pictures I take on this blog. However, all Black Dot Project pictures are now available for viewing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisoncolman/.