Pletch
Oct. 8, 2013
Language in Advertising: Listening, Reading and Viewing
Grade: 8
Subject: Language Arts
Unit : Figurative Language
Lesson Duration: 30 minutes
GENERAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES
2: Comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts.
SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES:
2.2: Respond to Texts
 Experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres, such
as magazine articles, diaries, drama, poetry, Internet passages, fantasy, nonfiction,
advertisements and photographs.
2.3: Understand Forms, Elements and Techniques:
 Identify creative uses of language and visuals in popular culture, such as commercials, rock videos,
and magazines; explain how imagery and figurative language, such as hyperbole, create tone and
mood
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Experience media texts from advertisements (commercials)
2. Identify creative figurative language, such as hyperbole, personification, simile and metaphor, used in advertising
3. Explain how imagery and figurative language create tone and mood.
ASSESSMENTS
Observations:
Guide class discussion using questions (in blue)
Listen to pair discussions (walk around)
Look at Remote Controls as students work on them
– on students on the right track?
Key Questions:
How do advertisers use figurative language and visuals to
promote their product/service?
How do advertisers use visuals to represent figurative
language?
How do language and visuals convey tone and create mood?
Written/Performance Assessments:
Exit Slip: Watch final commercial: “Brita” and each student will identify on a piece of paper:
1. Figurative language - write down a sentence or two about the simile, metaphor, personification or hyperbole used in the example
2. How did the visual images relate to the words?
3. What is the tone? How is the audience supposed to feel? Guilty? Hungry? Did it make you laugh?
LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED
Resource #1: Serafini, Frank. “8.3: Interrogating Advertisements”. Lessons in Comprehension: Explicit Instruction in
the Reading Workshop. Heinemann: Portsmouth , NH. 2004: 141-142.
Resource #2: You Tube videos (see Body of lesson)
MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT
* Smartboard
* Youtube videos
* Remote control worksheets
* Scrap paper for exit slips
PROCEDURE
Introduction (5 min.):
Hook/Attention Grabber:
1 min
Pull up “Got Milk?” Superman Advertisement on PowerPoint
 Ask the class: How many of you have seen ads from the “Got milk?”
campaign?
“That’s great, because in today’s lesson, we will be looking at different
advertisements and commercials.”
 What is the purpose of the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign? (Answer: The goal is to
advertise the importance of milk to a healthy body, and it uses famous
figures and celebrities as role models.ie: Taylor Swift, Wolverine, David
Beckham)
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Oct. 8, 2013
“Let’s analyze this advertisement and review the figurative language we have
been using in Language Arts”.
Assessment of Prior Knowledge:
How does the visual of Superman with a milk mustache make you feel? Or is
supposed to make you feel? (Answers could include strong, powerful, heroic)
Mood: The emotional quality or character of the work itself
Advertising logic: after seeing this poster, a young boy might think: Superman
drinks milk, and he is strong. If drink milk too, when I grow up, I will be strong
like Superman!”
4 min
Let’s talk about the advertisers who created this poster. What might they
believe about drinking milk?
(Answers: ‘It’s good for you,’ ‘it will make you strong,’ ‘Superman is a good role
model, so if he drinks milk, I should too’)
Tone: The attitudes and perspectives that a writer adopts toward an issue,
readers/audience pick it up which influences how they interpret the story
Review definitions and create examples of figurative language:
 Simile: a direct comparison between two things using “like” “as” or “than”
– Using Superman’s Got Milk? Poster, who can create a simile? (possible
Answers: “His bones are as strong as steel”, or “If you drink milk, you can
have strong bones like Superman!”)
 Metaphor: equating two concepts together, without using “like” or “as”.
Can anyone find or make as example of a metaphor using the poster?
(‘Bones of steel’, Superman’s bones are steel, not like steel)
Implied metaphor – if the consumer drinks milk , he will be Superman
 Hyperbole: extreme exaggerations used to make a point – not realistic, but
emphasizes an emotion. Who can share a hyperbole with the class? It
doesn’t have to be related to the poster. (Answers: ‘I’m so hungry I could
eat a horse!’ ‘My little brother has read thousands of books!’ ‘I’ve been
waiting for this bus for a hundred years!’)
 Personification: giving human emotions and qualities to inanimate objects
or animals. Can someone think of an example of personification?
(Answers: The dancing stars’ ‘the wise owl’ ‘sly fox’ ‘raging storm’)
Advance Organizer/Agenda:
Write goal on board before class,
this organizer is for teacher’s
reference only
Transition to Body:
Write learning objective on board before start of lesson:
Objective: To identify figurative language and visuals used in advertising, and to
explain how these create tone and mood.


Review figurative language using Got Milk? Poster
View commercials and identify type of figurative language used, Share
responses with class
 Discuss how visuals convey figurative language, tone and mood
 “Remote Control” worksheets
 Complete rest of commercials, sharing, fill out worksheets etc.
 Exit slip
We have reviewed figurative language with these examples, but now we are
going to look at how visuals can also convey figurative language.
Body (20 min.):
Learning Activity #1:
30 seconds
3 min
Commercials on YouTube
Show first example: “GEICO Dough boy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvFul32xKCs
Ask 3 questions: See PowerPoint: 1. What type of figurative language is used in this
commercial? 2. What is the tone/how do the advertisers feel about saving money at
Geico? 3. What is the mood? (How should an audience feel while watching this?)
Allow 1 min for Peers to discuss in pairs
(Simile: “Happier than the Pillsbury Doughboy on his way to a baking convention”)
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Oct. 8, 2013
2 min
Differentiation:
Assessments:
Learning Activity #2: 30 s
2 min
Hand-out “Remote Controls” – each student will draw a visual image in the TV box, and
write a sentence in the speech bubble. Both will illustrate the type of figurative
language used in the commercials. Ex: In the TV, a student could draw the happy
Pillsbury dough boy and a tray of cookies, in the quote, the students could write the
simile (see above). On the back of the remote, students describe tone and mood.
Display questions on slides for visual learners, read aloud for auditory learners
Provide verbal hints when needed (on powerpoint, there will be guiding questions)
Assess: each pair shares their answer for one question - Allows teacher to see if they grasp the
concept of simile
Show second commercial” “Temptations” :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLmIuW7yhBI
Ask: What was the slogan for Temptations?
“Cat’s would do anything for new Temptations”
Visual: What did the cat do in the commercial? Jump through walls. Is this realistic?
Exaggeration = Hyperbole. What is the purpose?
Think, Pair Share
Put it together: The advertisers could have said, “Cat’s would do anything for
Temptations, even jump through walls”, but instead they chose to illustrate the
hyperbole.
**Visuals convey figurative language – different form of communication – doesn’t
necessarily have to be oral or written.
Fill out Remote control
Assessments/Differentiation:
Think, Pair, Share
Remote Control: ex: Draw a picture of the cat leaping through the wall , and write “Cats will do
anything for Temptations, even jump through walls!”
Learning Activity #3: 45s.
Show third commercial: Knorr Salty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io1nWAE159E
Ask pairs to describe Salty (the saltshaker). What is this a clear example of?
What is the mood? What is the tone?
Think – Pair – Share with another pair
Personification (saltshakers don’t have feelings and cannot move)
Fill out remote control
2 min
Assessments/Differentiation
Remote control
Switch pairs if some are struggling with the activity – make larger groups to allow more
perspectives
Learning Activity #4 30s
If time allows (This is
more challenging)
2 min
Fourth commercial: Buick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7UQCs77Y90
Assessment/Differentiation:
Metaphor is a challenging concept – proceed if class seems to grasp concept, this will challenge
higher levels of Blooms. May not have time– Assessment (see below) is more important.
Ask: What is the figurative language used? What other language in this commercial
relates to this idea? (‘Age’, ‘Evolution’, ‘smarter, more nimble breed’, ‘species’)
Think, Pair share, fill out remote
Share with group
Visuals can convey figurative language subtly – implied metaphor
Closure (4 min.):
Consolidation/Assessment of Learning:
2 min
1 min
Assessment: Watch a final commercial: Brita:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prM46UF_nLg
On a slip of paper, students will identify: Type of Figurative Language or
Visual, Tone and Mood. Hand in as an exit slip.
When you go home tonight, I would like you to watch TV! But don’t get
too excited yet . . . your task is to watch the commercials. Choose one that
you can identify a simile, metaphor, hyperbole or personification used in
the commercial. Describe the commercial in a few sentences as your
homework. Make sure to record the:
 Name of the product or service being advertised
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Pletch
Feedback From Students:
Feedback To Students:
Transition To Next Lesson:
1-2 min
Oct. 8, 2013
 Type of figurative language used (is it a metaphor, a simile, etc?)
 The main visual images
 The tone – how did it make you feel? Guilty, Motivated, Hungry?
Be prepared to share your commercial for next class!
Ask students if they have any questions.
Next class we will share your home-work commercials 
Rationale: Advertising and Commercials combine text, speech and visuals in the form of figurative
language to promote products or services to consumers. Commercials, a multimedia format, targets 3
of the 6 Language Arts: Listening, Reading and Viewing. When students can identify the type of
figurative language and the purpose of the advertisement, they can understand how language arts are
used in everyday life. When students analyze tone, they can understand how the advertisers feel about
their product, and how this can influence consumers. Describing the mood challenges students to see
the purposes of advertising and think critically about the persuasive power of language (visual
included). Hopefully, students will be encouraged to criticize advertisements and commercials they see
in everyday life and be aware of the creative and powerful potential of figurative language.
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