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THAT WAS FUNJodi
BACKGROUND Thinking back on your childhood and adolescence, can you remember a teacher teaching something that was particularly interesting and memorable to you? What was being taught? How was the teacher teaching it? Why do you think it was such an effective learning experience for you? I remember in my World History class, during my sophomore year at high school, we had an entire unit about persuasion, subliminal messages, and propaganda within advertisement. My teacher brought in magazine ads, commercials, and label off of products. We discussed what techniques were being used for each of the advertisements (association to celebrities, the "everyone else is doing it/using it" slogan, etc.). The, he gave us a speech given by Hitler during the onset of W.W.II. We found and discussed many of the same techniques used in the advertisements. He then showed up posters that were created to support the anti-Jewish movement. They too, had similar propaganda tactics found in our modern advertising. The unit opened my eyes to the manipulating and planning that advertisers use to sell their products. It was horrific to see the same techniques used with Hitler, as he tried to "sell" his beliefs to an entire country. I thought it was really powerful to show that even though WW.II happened over 40 years earlier, the same kinds of persuasion and propaganda that killed thousands of peel are still being used to sell appliances, clothing, and hundreds of other items. It taught me to really examine what advertisers are trying to sell. I have found this skill especially useful around voting time with political Home | Power of Teaching | Believing is Seeing | Truth or Consequences | That Was Fun |
