Unit VII inventions that shook the world

UNIT III WHAT'S THE NEWS? Section C. We Whant You to Try Our Product

Урок-дискуссия, обобщение с привлечением ролевых игр, решения проблем и презентации. ("Реклама: благо или проклятие?" Осмысление глобальных проблем современности на уроках английского языка в старших классах).

Тема урока: Advertising: Curse or Blessing?

Цель урока: Формирование речевых умений (монологическая и диалогическая речь) на основе активизация лексики и лексико-грамматических конструкций по описанию различных типов и техник рекламы и ее роли в обществе.

Сопутствующие задачи:

ü формирование глобального подхода к проблемам рекламы;

ü формирование навыков социального общения через активизацию понятий, связанных с рекламой и маркетингом;

ü формирование творческого и критического мышления учащихся через дискуссию и презентацию собственного мнения.

ü создание различных видов рекламы Гимназии Глобального Образования в форме ролевой игры.

ü ознакомление учащихся с историей рекламы, языком рекламы и его влиянием на русский язык.

Языковой материал: Лексика и лексико-грамматические конструкции по описанию различных типов и техник рекламы и её роли в обществе.

Оснащение урока: Примеры рекламных объявлений.

English УМК для 9 и 10-11 классов.

 

ХОД УРОКА

 

Teacher: Advertising penetrates all spheres of our life. It is so powerful that you just can not avoid it. Could you tell me where you come across advertising?

Student: You come across it everywhere, when you read a newspaper, watch TV, go to a local grocery, take your mail,... etc.

Teacher: Not only does one come across the advertisements everywhere, but everything from toothpicks to American Green Card is advertised. Advertising is a growing tendency in our society, so it seems quite natural to make out at last whether advertising is our friend or foe. So let's go back to the earliest days of advertising and find out how it all began.

Student: In "History of Advertising", published in 1875, Henry Sampson says of the beginnings of advertising: "... There is little doubt that the desire among tradesmen and merchants to make good their wares has had an existence almost as long as the customs of buying and selling, and it is but natural to suppose that advertisements in some shape or form have existed not only from time immemorial, but almost for all time".

Student: There is evidence that hawkers were shouting their wares as far back as the days of the early Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians.

Teacher: Has this primitive advertising survived till the present day?

Student: It sure has. Although hawkers do not roam the streets with their cries, they have entered our home to make their please on radio and television.

Teacher: So the earliest advertising medium was the spoken word and what else?

Student: It was signs, excavated in the ruins of Pompeii. The signs were used for Identifying shops: a goat for - a dairy, a mull driving a mill - for a baker, a boy receiving a whipping - for a school.

Student: There is also evidence of ads painted on walls - for theatrical performances, sports and gladiatorial exhibitions, ads of houses for rent, and appeals for tourists to visit the local taverns.

Teacher: There is no doubt that advertising flourished in this period. But when did the first written advertisement appear?

Student: Perhaps the first written advertisement was this three-thousands-year-old one inscribed on papyrus and found by archaeologist in the ruins of Thebes: "The man-slave, Shem, having run from his old master, Hapu the Weaver, all good citizens of Thebes are enjoined to help return him. He is Hittite, 5/2 tall, of ruddy complexion and brown eyes. For news of his whereabouts, half of gold coin is offered. And for his return to the shop of Hapu the Weaver, where the best cloth is woven to your desires, a whole gold coin is offered".

Teacher: And what do you know about the early English advertising?

Student: Perhaps the oldest relic of advertising among English people is family names referring to the various specialized crafts. Names like Miller, Weaver, Wright, Tailor and Carpenter were the earliest means of product identification the forerunner of the brand name so essential to modern advertising.

Teacher: That's right. And what events had a great impact on the development of advertising?

Student: One of the most significant events in the development of advertising was the invention of a system of casting movable type by the German Johan Gutenberg, in 1438. Paper had been invented more than a thousand years earlier by the Chinese and was introduced to Europe by the Turks in the twelfth century.

Teacher: So all the necessary components were available for mass printing. And who can be considered the father of the first printed advertisement?

Student: William Caxton, an early English printer, made advertising history in 1478 when he printed a handbill now regarded as the first known printed English advertisement. It advertised a book he had printed, the Salisburi Pye, rules for the clergy at Easter. The advertisement read: "If it please ony man spiritual or temporal to bye ony pyes of two and three comemoracios of Salisbury use enpryntid after the forme of this present letter which ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to Westmonesber in to the almonestrye at the reed pale and he shall have them good chepe. Supplied stet cedula ". (The Latin phrase at the end translates "Let this notice stand").

Teacher: And what events of our century gave a great impetus to modern advertising?

Student: Our century is rich in events that gave a great impetus to advertising. You cannot help mentioning such inventions as photography, telephone, telegraph, radio, cinema, and especially television.

Teacher: Yes, the modern advertising has a long impressive history. But I think, the oldest type of advertising is still the most popular and widespread one. Some people say it dates back to Adam and Eve. Everybody engages in it. What is it?

Student: It is personal selling. College students use it to get dates, to get more money from their parents, and to market themselves to prospective employers. Politicians use it to win votes, and football coaches use it to recruit outstanding players. Physicians use it to persuade their patients to begin a regular program of exercise, the Pope uses it to sell the idea of brotherhood, the American Cancer Society uses it to solicit contributions, and the Girls Scouts of America use it to sell cookies. Entertainers use it to become famous, and promote their careers.

Teacher: To cut a long story short, people use personal selling for the purpose of creating publicity and improving their incomes. Speaking about advertising, we just cannot help mentioning some other types of promotion which reinforce and complement advertising such as...

Student: Coupons, cents-off offer, samples, cash rebates, premiums, trading stamps, consumer contests, exhibition, and sweepstakes.

Teacher: Yes, some of them like price-cuts, free gifts, coupons and samples have been in use for over a hundred years. Others come and go but they all serve one objective - to induce a customer to make an actual purchase.

Now, I would like you to say what type of promotion each example is. (Students identify types of promotion.). I strongly hope that as customers you would be able to take advantage of these offers.

And now let's conduct a little investigation and try to find out what stands behind advertising that makes it so powerful and successful. Let's pretend we are advertisers. So our objective is to teach the consumer to respond to our strategy, so we must understand how people learn, what components make up the process of learning, what are they?

Student: Learning is made up of several components: motivation, experience, repetition, generalisation and discrimination. Every time we see a commercial on TV, for example for a refreshing drink on a hot summer evening or for hot chocolate when the weather turns cold, there is a strong motivation to learn so that our needs can be satisfied. It is much easier to learn the message if the commercial shows a hot and thirsty person drinking coke and then falling backwards into cooling, refreshing water.

Teacher: Why do we need to see advertisements several times?

Student: Our experience even with good commercials can only be vicarious and is therefore weak in comparison with the first hand one. That is why if we want people to learn advertisements they should be repeated many times.

Teacher: But I think too much of any tiling cannot do any good. Have you ever experienced the consumer fatigue?

Student: Yes, sometimes I simply feel fed up with this or that advertisement and in that case the message falls on deaf ears. So I think that advertisers should avoid too much repetition, by eventually changing the message.

Teacher: And what is the importance of generalisation in advertising?

Student: Consumers can generalise from experience and information. Therefore advertisers sometimes copy a highly successful campaign idea that has been well learned by consumers. The highly successful "Marlboro Country" advertising for cigarettes has led to "Ford Country" for automobile dealers and "Cadbury Country" for chocolate bars.

Teacher: And what is the importance of discrimination? Can you give any examples of your own of this?

Student: When several products are very similar, we will choose a particular one if we can find something special or different about it, that is if we can discriminate positively between it and others.

Teacher: Very often learning becomes so entrenched that a habit develops and we buy the same brand without even being aware of the learning experience that originally led to the purchase. It becomes our second nature. Under such circumstances, it is extremely difficult for advertising to get customers to switch brands. To counter strongly entrenched buying habits, significant innovation and a heavy level of promotion is usually needed.

Teacher: As we could see advertising is persuasive communication, that means they are deliberately written to persuade you to be for or against something. This is done by using different kinds of propaganda techniques. Propaganda is the spreading of ideas, information, or rumours for the purpose of influencing people to be in favour or against something or someone. Much of the advertising is propaganda, for its major purpose is to influence you to buy something. What are these kinds of techniques?

Student: One technique is called the "Bandwagon". When using this technique, the advertiser tries to influence you to buy something because a great number of other people are buying it. For example, "Thousands of people all across the country have switched, to DAZZLE TOOTHPASTE. Shouldn't you switch, too?" The writer of that ad hopes to convince you that you should switch to DAZZLE TOOTHPASTE because thousands of other people have. But before you run out to buy a tube of DAZZLE, you should consider these two things: (1). Is the advertiser being truthful? You cannot be sure because he offers no evidence to support his claim. (2) Even if his claim is true, it does not necessarily follow that you should switch to DAZZLE TOOTHPASTE.

Student: One of the favourite advertiser's techniques is the "Testimonial". In using this technique the advertiser tries to get you buy the product being advertised by quoting a favourable statement made about the product by some famous person. Often a picture of the famous person whose statement is being used is shown in the advertisement. For example, even in damp, windy weather my hair always stays in place. That is because I use STAY-IN-PLACE. I have tried many other hair sprays but STAY-IN-PLACE is the only one that works. STAY-IN-PLACE may actually be an excellent hair spray, but the fact that the famous person uses it and likes it does not guarantee the quality of the product. Your decision to buy a certain product should be influenced by the merits of the product itself and not by the fact that a famous person endorses it.

Student: Another technique similar to the "Testimonial" is one called "Transfer". This technique also makes use of the famous person. Unlike the "Testimonial", however, the famous person does not make any statement about the product. Instead, he or she is pictured together with the product being advertised. The advertiser hopes that people who admire this or that famous person will transfer their admiration to the product and buy one.

Student: Another advertising technique that is frequently used is "Repetition". For example:

At last! Here is a detergent you can count on.

For greater cleaning power, DEPEND ON POW.

For dazzling brightness, DEPEND ON POW.

For brilliant colours, DEPEND ON POW.

For all your cleaning jobs, DEPEND ON POW.

The advertiser repeats certain words several times. In fact, counting the number of times they are repeated, those words make up one-fourth of all the words used in the ad. By repeating them again and again the advertiser hopes that you will remember them particularly when you are shopping for a detergent.

Student: Sometimes advertisers use the so-called, technique "Emotional Words". Emotional words are words which advertisers think will arouse your emotions so that you will feel strongly for or strongly against the subject they write about. Advertisers are particularly skilful in this technique. For example, TEMPTY'S MARGARINE is the most mouth-watering, taste-tempting margarine available today. You will love its soft, creamy texture and deliciously delicate flavour. So unbelievably good, yet so unbelievably inexpensive that is TEMPTY'S MARGARINE. In the following ad, the advertiser uses "Emotional Words" to make people feel strongly against something. It is hoped that by arousing unfavourable attitudes towards the thing, he will make people want to buy the product that is being advertised.

Tired of facing that pile of dirty greasy dishes every night? Tired of scouring those unsightly pots and pans? Tired of subjecting your hands to the torture of hot water and harsh, gritty detergents? Then buy a NO-HANDS AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER and bid farewell to your daily battles at the kitchen sink.

The advertiser hopes people will feel strongly against dishwashing. By selecting words that make dishwashing seem even more unpleasant than it probably is, the writer hopes to influence people to buy a NO-HANDS AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER.

Student: I would like to mention one more technique. Comparative, or competitive, or sometimes called knocking copy advertising is one in which a manufacturer takes some qualities of his product and runs them against those of a competitor. It is often aggressive even by the "rough-and-tumble" standards of the hard sell in the United States. It was first used in America. It can be a potent weapon, giving the consumer more information or poking fun at a rival product. Its witty use by Pepsi-Cola in its battle with Coca-Cola is one of the best American examples. In that advertisement rap artist Hammer starts to sing "Feelings" like a dirge after a slug from a can of Coke, and he as if by magic recovers his form when a fan hands him a Pepsi. The European comparative advertising is much more restrictive, its code forbids many of the US excesses, particularly the denigration of a competitor's product. It also requires advertisers to be accurate in information used and fair in selection of comparisons. The manufacturer can highlight only those qualities which are scientifically verifiable, and comparisons based simply on taste are not welcomed. That is why much of it is related to car advertising. But you are more likely to see a knocking copy in press than to see it on TV, as Television Commission is reluctant to allow competitive advertising because it is, in a sense, biting the hand that feeds. They do not want to put other advertisers off using TV as a medium.

Teacher: So you have learned that much of the advertising you read is propaganda. Do not get the impression, however, that all advertising that uses propaganda is bad and deceitful. Most of the propaganda used in advertising is not intended to deceive you, and advertising provides a valuable service in that it brings to your attention many products that you need or want. It Is important that you recognise propaganda in advertising and do not let it delude or mislead you. You should be able to withstand its impact, and then decide for yourself whether or not you wish to be influenced by it. In a nutshell, you should think creatively. Anyway, there is one advertising technique that is not based on propaganda. It is "Textual".

Student: "Textual" technique is based on pure information, it is free from any emotional words. Most businessmen give their preference to this kind of technique.

Teacher: Well, I see you are very well acquainted with everything dealing with advertising. So I suggest you play a role game. Let's pretend you are people from advertising agency. And some of you will be representatives of our High School for Global Education who come to the advertising agency to order some advertisements of the school. Advertising agents present their clients to different advertising techniques and make up the required advertisements. After the advertisements are ready, the members of the school administration discuss the ads from different points of view, and choose the most impressive and successful one.

Teacher: Now, I am sure you will never be unemployed as you could work as the first-class advertising agents. Now I would like you to have a talk about Russian advertising It is an exciting subject of discussion as in Russia advertising is a comparatively recent phenomenon. What is the attitude of Russian people towards advertising?

Student: I think many Russians find advertising offensive, as many Westerners do.

Teacher: But Westerners feel much more experienced as far as advertising is concerned because they have had decades to get used to the slick gimmicks of modern advertising, while Russians have emerged abruptly from generations of socialist austerity. Under the totalitarian regime the very word "advertising" was like a curse word. The only legitimate advertiser was the one-party state. Now the state has lost its monopoly but "advertising" is a bigger curse than ever.

Student: Yes, many people hate ads. When reactionary groups such as the National Salvation Front call for a ban on advertising signs they strike a responsive chord, among many Russians, even intellectuals. Some people say that most American commercials should be banned from Russian television not because they are American but because they are moronic.

Teacher: I think that the major reason of the overall disapproval of advertising is not that it is moronic or offensive, but because the majority of advertisements are aimed at Russia's new rich.

Student: Yes, many ads show Rolls-Roys, downtown Mansions, lavish casino's and cruises.

Teacher: The Soviet-era media tried to hide the luxurious lifestyles of the nomenclature, hammering the idea of equality for decades. I can say that all civilised societies try to avoid creating social abysses between people.

Student: I think that the mass advertising of deluxe merchandise in a country where most people are poor and getting poorer is extremely dangerous.

Student: I have heard that television stations are bombarded with letters and calls from viewers especially the elderly, protesting ads for expensive products.

Student: Parents complain that their children keep begging for Snickers and Mars candy bars which they cannot afford. Often they demand all ads be banned.

Teacher: Whether you like it or not, but very often we are simply forced to watch advertisements because they interrupt our favourite programs. So people developed their preferences to ads. What ads do people prefer?

Student: One advertising agency in Moscow conducted a survey that indicates that Russians prefer Western ads to Russian ones precisely because these ads bake them into an exotic world of glamour and luxury. They used a focus group to test a possible commercial for a Western consumer product. The commercial was set in Russia and showed Russian women in realistic settings of day-to-day Russian life, fighting crowds in public transport and so on. The Russian women in the rest audience hated this commercial. They did not want to be reminded of the dark sides of their lives.

Teacher: Not only does advertising have an influence on our ideas and notions, but also the language of the advertising influences the language of society in general - especially the language of school children.

Student: If you visit any Russian school these days, you are likely to overhear the phrase "не просто, а очень просто" and many others. These words come not from a Pushkin fairy-tale or an Eisenstein film script but from an ad for the consumer electronics distributor Seldom.

Teacher: In recent past, children drew their stock phrases and anecdotes from films and comedians. The anecdotes were usually more subtle and intricate than the snappy sound bites of the TV commercials that now dominate, to say nothing of the quality of translation.

Student: Many Western ad slogans are translated from English into awkward semi-literate or illiterate Russian. For example, Smirnoff vodka's "taste the difference" is good English but its Russian version "почувствуйте разницу", which means something more like "feel the distinction" - barely makes any sense. On the other hand, Pepsi-Cola's "Новое поколение выбирает Pepsi" (literally, "A new generation chooses Pepsi") is an example of a literate, effective translation.

Teacher: But in general the effect of advertising has been to lower the general level of the language. Ungrammatical advertisements are not just offensive but less effective at selling products.

Student: Very often poor translations cause confusion. For example, "conditioner" in Russian means "air conditioner" never "hair conditioner". Vidal Sassoon's ad for its "shampoo and hair conditioner in one & the same bottle" has given rise to innumerable jokes-especially since "видал" in Russian is the past tense of the verb: "to see".

Student: On the other hand, a Pepsi ad promoting the 2-liter plastic bottle was very effective. The slogan was "большой вкус" or the "big taste", which is improper Russian. The Russian consumers said that they liked the slogan precisely because it sounded exotic - like Russian spoken by the foreigner.

Student: Another survey showed Russians prefer to see the label "Pepsi" printed in the Western rather than the Cyrillic alphabet. Pepsi executives recently admitted they had a marketing problem in their battle with Coca-Cola because Pepsi was perceived as too much of a Russian product.

Teacher: Russians seem sure to get more ads of all kinds whether we want them or not. Advertising specialists predict that advertising in Russia will develop increasingly distinct styles of its own at the same time it will absorb more technological feats such as special effects from the West. Russians have traditionally believed that chastity, integrity and sincerity are distinctive trails of our national character, so is our capacity to hurl ourselves into extremes, including the extreme of blind imitation of the West. I strongly hope that the veneration for the West and other extremes will be overcome and Russian advertising will be nourished by Russian art and Russian culture, the power and depth of which give us hopes for a better future - in spite of the depressing mediocrity of so many of the ads inflicted on us today.

And now let us discuss advantages and disadvantages of advertising. I would like you to split into two teams: one for and the other against advertising.