Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes – Introduction
60 minutes – Part A: What Do People Think About Sugar?
60+ minutes – Part B: Changing People’s Minds About Sugar
20 minutes – Part C: Public Display of Print Advertisements
20 minutes – Reflection

Introduction

Step 1.

Begin the lesson by reminding students about the skills and knowledge they developed in each of the SugarByHalf English Finding Out lessons. They learned:

How printed advertisements use visual language to persuade
How association can be built between a product and an idea
The impact of promotion on the marketing of a product
How word choices can create meaning in an advertisement
What weasel words are.

Step 2.

Inform students that they now have the opportunity to apply what they have learned about print advertising and persuasive techniques while responding to this challenge:

How might we help people to cut down their sugar intake so that our community experiences good health and wellbeing?

Students will use their knowledge to take action to improve people’s health and wellbeing outcomes by creating a print advertisement that conveys a message about the issue of sugar.

Part A: What Do People Think About Sugar?

In this part, students will plan a survey to uncover their peers' thoughts about sugar. This research will help direct the advertisement students make later in the lesson.

Step 1.

Begin this part of the lesson by discussing the idea and purpose of market research. Engage in some explicit teaching to inform students that professional marketers and advertisers usually try to find out their target audience’s views about the product or idea being advertised before they begin developing any advertising materials. This research helps advertisers to cater their message to the audience, which increases the likelihood of the audience paying attention to the message in the advertising material.

Demonstrate this idea by asking students to recall an advertisement (print, television, online etc) that was geared towards a specific audience. What do ads specifically for older people look like? What do ads look like when they're targeted at boys, or girls, or adults or children? Invite students to share their observations. Summarise the discussion by reinforcing the idea that successful advertising caters to its intended audience.

Step 2.

Distribute this market research survey to the class and read through each of the statements with them. The survey is designed for participants to respond by stating whether they agree with, don’t know about, or disagree with a set of statements about the health impacts of sugar. The statements are:

I know what added sugar is
I care about the health impacts of too much added sugar
I consume food and drinks because I like them, I don’t really think about what’s in them
I know about foods and drinks that have high nutritional value
I would change what I eat and drink if it meant that I would be healthier.

Invite students to seek clarification around any of the statements if they need to. Give students some time to add any other relevant statements to the survey.

Step 3.

Advise students as to how they should go about seeking responses to their surveys. You will need to arrange the details here ahead of time: for instance, you could organise for your students to visit a colleague's class and collect responses from their peers. Otherwise, students could work independently to seek responses from their peers over a recess or lunchtime.

Depending on what you have arranged here, the rest of the lesson may need to be completed at a later date - particularly if students are gathering information over lunch or during some other out-of-class time.

Step 4.

Invite students to review their survey results and summarise what they discovered into three or four key points. For example, your students might find that:

Some people think that sugar isn’t that bad
Most people will consume sugar even though they know it’s not good for them
Everybody thinks they need to eat more healthy food
Most people don’t know how bad sugar is for them.

There is space provided on the Student Worksheet for them to write down their summaries.

Ask a couple of volunteers to share what they found out about their peers’ views on sugar.

Step 5.

Encourage students to choose one viewpoint that they identified through their survey that they would like to take action to change or reinforce. That statement will inform the message of the print advertisement they will create.

For example, students might have identified that many people think 'Sugar isn't so bad.' They might decide to try and change that perception with their printed advertisement.

Note: If students need to know more about the health impacts of consuming too much sugar before attempting to tell a story about the issue, invite them to view the information on the SugarByHalf website.

Part B: Changing People's Minds About Sugar

Step 1.

Begin this part of the lesson by asking students to position themselves so that they can see the screen. Remind students that the purpose of advertising is to promote a product or a message - to tell a story about it. They will now view a couple of screen advertisements that promote a message, or tell a story, about sugar. Encourage students to try to understand and summarise the story that each advertisement tells about sugar.

Step 2.

Screen 2-3 of the clips found on this page: https://www.rethinksugarydrink.org.au/critics-choice/.

Note: Some of the clips rely on disturbing images, and may not be suitable for all viewers. Make sure you view the clips before class to make sure they're appropriate for your class. We recommend 'Man Drinking Sugar' and 'How Far Do You Have To Run?'.

After watching each clip, invite students to form small groups to have a quick discussion about each of the clips, using these prompts as a guide:

What is the story being told in the clip? (Summarise in a short sentence)
How is the story told? (What images or words are used?)
How does the story attempt to change behaviour?
Can you notice any of the things we’ve learned about in the SugarByHalf English Finding Out lessons in the advertisement?

These prompts are included on the Student Worksheet, along with some space for students to note the key points of their discussion.

Step 3.

Inform students that they will design an advertisement that creates change either by informing the audience about how sugar can impact their health or by encouraging the audience to choose a different option.

Note: This lesson is geared towards creating a print advertisement, rather than a screen advertisement, but if you're feeling adventurous and you have the equipment and support, you could make a TV ad with your students instead.

Remind students about the viewpoint that they identified in their survey - they'll be responding to that viewpoint by telling a different 'story' about sugar in their own advertisement. Encourage students to think about how will they tell the story - they should try to incorporate the marketing techniques that they explored in the earlier SugarByHalf English lessons.

Students are prompted on the Student Worksheet to list the following details:

Key message of your advertisement
(E.g. Just eat real food)
The story you will tell
(E.g. Eating real food will help you to stay healthy and happy)
Techniques and language that you will use
(E.g. We will use bright colours to make it seem more appealing, and create an association between fruit, vegetables and being happy with an image of smiling person).

If required, ask students to look through the notes that they made in each of these earlier lessons, as well as re-read the factsheets from the lessons. The information may inspire students to incorporate specific advertising/marketing techniques into their own print advertisement.

Step 4.

Allow students time to plan and draft their print advertisement. There is space provided on the Student Worksheet for them to do so. Once they have finalised their drafts, encourage them to publish their print advertisement. If it's available, encourage students to use design software on a computer to create their print advertisement. If not, good old pencils and paper will be fine!

Step 5.

Ask students to write a paragraph that summarise the choices they made when creating the advertisement. They are prompted with the following on the Student Worksheet:

What is the ‘story’ being told in your advertisement, and what techniques have been used to tell the story?

Part C: Public Display of Print Advertisements

Step 1.

Ensure that student work is displayed publicly in a highly visible area in the school - remembering who the target market for the advertisement is. The class’s work could be displayed on a pinboard in a high-traffic area in the school, at the main entrance, on TV screens around the school, on the school LMS - or even feature in issues of the school newsletter. The display should feature students’ print advertisements alongside the short paragraph they have written about the choices made in its creation.

For more information on the value of publicly displaying products of student learning, see https://www.pblworks.org/blog/gold-standard-pbl-public-product

Reflection

Invite students to respond in writing to the following reflection prompt (there is space on the Student Worksheet for them to do so):

In your view, can advertising change people’s minds about an issue, such as the health impacts of added sugar? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Differentiated Learning

Extension - Students could extend the impact of ideas explored in their advertisement by creating a print advertisement with the same message, but with a different audience in mind. They could think about how best to cater to a younger or older target audience and create a new advertisement for a new audience.

Provisions for Learning Support - Work with students who require guidance with choosing a ‘story’ to tell in their advertisement. Support them to draft some ideas and provide some concrete examples of how they could incorporate visual language and other techniques into their own print advertisement.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Taking it Further

If you would like more information about SugarByHalf or the movement to reduce our sugar intake, check out the SugarByHalf Teachers Network here.

SugarByHalf would also love to share the results of your teaching with the world! If your students are making amazing changes, consider emailing info@sugarbyhalf.com to let them know. They're excited to tell people about your success!

SugarByHalf - Activist Advertising

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