Task 3: creating your own really fake ad

        This turned out to be so much fun. I wanted to do a spoof on a typically “male” item, and I cannot imagine a more masculine ad than ads for pickup trucks. They always have a husky-voiced man talking about horsepower and towing capabilities and ram. They’re always in a desert or a forest or a construction site. So what did I decide to do? Make the girliest looking truck ad I possibly could. It was fun to go overboard, talking about manicures and selfies, adding heart clip art everywhere I could. The ad I made is excessive and obnoxious, but I think it works as a spoof. I used Picsart to make my ad, which was surprisingly easy once I got the hang of it. I think students would like to use this app not only for its ease of use but also its creative potential; there are so many different ways a student could use this app to create something that looks great.

        If I were to use an assignment like this, I’d go one of two ways. With younger students, we could use this activity if we were talking about persuasion or persuasive voice. I’d have them create ads to try and persuade their reader to buy something they invent- an introduction to ethos, logos, and pathos. For older students, I think it would work well in the context of exploring stereotypes or as a media analysis exercise. With the former, you could take a traditionally gendered ad and remake it as a nongenedered ad. With the latter option, it would work well as a spoof ad exercise. 

        I think this kind of exercise is important because it is either introducing critical thinking skills or enhancing them. With activities like this, students are encouraged to dig deeper into what the ad is presenting; not just accepting the ad at face value. What is the subtext? What are they trying to tell you about yourself? Who is the target audience and why? It’s teaching them to analyze the media around them and this is one of the most valuable skills we can give our students, because it makes them into smarter consumers of media.

      The only drawbacks I can imagine are students who struggle to grasp the idea of subtext. It would be very important to do a lot of introduction to an assignment like this, giving context and maybe modeling the assignment beforehand, because it’s vital that students understand the concepts presented here. The relationship between analysis and creation is pivotal here because you need to use analysis to find the subtext in ads (whether it’s a spoof or not). When you’re creating your own, you need to create something that gets at a deeper meaning; that is open to analysis.

     I would love to use an assignment like this in my future classes. Because I have practiced it here, I would feel confident using this technology. I think this would be one of those assignments that would get my students talking, which is exactly what I want.