Codes

Technical Codes that were in the movies were:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Symbols

The video was very colorful and looked cartoonish. The setting was made out of food, and it looked very appealing.  

Technical Codes Jr

The video is 2 dimensional, and the camera is zooming in and out to the different food groups/important characters.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Symbols

The video is dark and gloomy. It uses grays, black, and green. Visuals such as thorns, shadows, and swirls to portray confusion, sadness, or fear.

Technical Codes Jr

The video has quick transitions, and does a lot of zoom in/ fade outs that keep the viewer interested.

Technical Codes that were in the TV Commercials were:

Extra Chewing Gum

Symbols

Uses food known to the general public as food that makes your breath smell, as the "bad boys" that gum will stop. 

Catch Phrase

"Eat Drink Chew... Extra"- Eating and drinking are necessities, by putting Chewing Extra it makes it sound like it's also something you need to do.

Uses popular song "Bad Boys", and changes the lyrics to fit the commercial.

Nolan Cheese

Symbols

The mouse trap as an obstacle for the mouse

The cheese as something desired

Technical Codes Jr

There is a blackout after Rocky's theme song, making it sound like something dreadful happened.

Catch Phrase

"Seriously Strong"- Not only talks about the strength of the cheese, but also represents the strength of the mouse in the video. The mouse overcomes the trap by

Music Selection- "Rocky Theme Song" "The End" would represent giving up, "Eye of the Tiger" is the fight, and the will to get better-stronger

Magazine Ads

Baconator

Symbols

The size of the burger takes over the entire ad. It makes it look "strong" and "big". The ingredients are in small print

Writing

Colorful writing

Buzz Words- "Small is Better- Works only for Gadgets" using the word gadget makes it more appealing to the public.

Farm Fresh

Symbols

The black and white city contrasts with the bright orange carrots.

Writing

Buzz words- farm fresh

Reflection

I think knowing how to identify codes and symbols is really important because we are constantly bombarded by media. We need to know what movie trailers, tv ads, and magazine commercials are trying to tell us.  

For example, when we saw the trailer for "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" we thought that the introduction would make the people watching the movie crave food- particularly junk food.

Lesson Plan

Objective: How are food marketers crossing the line between advertising and entertainment to engage young consumers, and why does this concern children’s consumption in daily life? To what extent are product-related games, quizzes and apps making children both recipients and tools of marketing? In the lesson below, students look at various forms of advertising, then keep logs of the ads and other branded content they encounter over the course of a week. The students will reflect on their experiences researching and how they will become different consumers.

Materials: Computers with Internet access, projector, links to examples of advertisements and commercials. (see links below)

Warm-Up: Display the following three-question quiz on the board/projector.

1. It is conservatively estimated that children influence more than $_______________ in food and beverage purchases each year in the United States.

a. 10 million

b. 50 million

c. 50 billion

d. 100 billion

2. In February, the McDonald’s sites HappyMeal.com and McWorld.com received a total of ______________ visitors, around half of whom were under 12.

a. 7,000

b. 70,000

c. 700,000

d. 7 million

3. General Mills’ Lucky Charms site, with virtual adventures starring Lucky the Leprechaun, had __________ visitors in February.

a. 27,000

b. 57,000

c. 157, 000

d. 227,000

(correct answers: 1. d; 2. c; 3. d)

Reflection: Have students answer the questions with table groups. Ask students if they find any of these numbers surprising.

Lesson and Activities:

Activity A
A. Show the movie title sequence.
Ask the question, "What are the feelings you had while watching the movie? List them all down on the board or chart paper.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

B. Show the magazine ad. Ask the same question, "What were the feelings you had while looking at the ad? List them all down on the board or chart paper.

C. Show the Magazine ad again and play the movie at the same time. Alternately show the ad and the movie making sure that you give an ample amount of time using the music from the movie as a background music to the magazine ad.
Ask the same question again, "What were the feelings you had while watching both at the same time? List them all down on the board or a piece of paper.

D. Compare your lists and discuss the similarities and differences.

E. Show the TV commercial

Wrigley's Extra Chewing Gum

Ask the students to describe the commercial. Ask the question, "What is the message of this TV commercial? Is it effective? What are the benefits of using images and music altogether to relay a message?

F. Do steps A-E for Activity B with the following media samples.
























Activity B
Movie Title Sequences:
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

Magazine Ad:

TV Commercials:
Nolan Cheese Commercial

G. Compare the results of Activity A and Activity B.

H. Show the Wendy's ad again and play the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie at the same time. Ask the question: How did your feelings change about the magazine ad? List down answers on the board or chart paper and discuss the differences from the list made in Activity A.

Activity C

Poll the class. Ask for a show of hands for each of these questions, and tally responses on the board:

• Have you ever played a game, taken a quiz or used an app related to a food, drink or other product?
• Have you ever “liked” a product on Facebook? Ask some students to share which products they have “liked” or tagged online. List them on the board.

What do you notice about the list? Have you asked your parents to buy these products? Were you already consumers of these products?

Reflection:

Look around the grocery store. How does the junk food aisle differ from the produce section?

What are some of the marketing techniques you see in the grocery stores?  Are they efficient?

What restaurants are you attracted to at a food court and why?

How do you think things are different today than they were when ads were only in print, display, radio and television?