Audiences
Media are all about audience. Lessons and activities require youth to examine this issue very carefully.
Audiences Negotiate Meaning
Using a student workbook from Chris M. Worsnop’s Media Literacy Through Critical Thinking, participants explore how an individual’s understanding of a media selection can be affected by her/his background, personal experiences, opinions, etc.
Radio Commercials and Target Audiences
By investigating the programming of different radio stations, participants examine the way advertisers place their commercials in relation to target audiences.
Television’s Target Audience
After channel surfing for 30 minutes, participants make observations about the target audience for different kinds of TV programs, and the commercials aired with them.
Figuring Out Communication Objectives
Advertisers can sum up their media message in one sentence. By writing communication objectives for existing TV commercials, participants gain insight into the creative development process of ad production.
Reinterpreting Favorite Images
Participants explore how even the most popular images can be interpreted differently by different individuals.
Getting Inside the Image
By mimicking the physical relationships and emotions of models in ads, participants explore how ads use emotional expression to better communicate messages to target audiences.
Product Repackaging: It’s All About Audience
By examining how advertisers associate certain images with their products, participants explore how products are often repackaged to appeal to new customers.
Product Repackaging as an Advertising Tool
Participants examine a brief chronology of tobacco ads to determine the target audience of each, and how repackaging can attract younger audiences.
What We’re Watching
Participants record and discuss their viewing habits, and compare with those of their peers. An excellent place to start a discussion of contemporary film’s impact on the viewer.
Sexy Ads and Their Communication Objectives
Participants examine and discuss a selection of magazine ads that use sexual themes as part of their communication objectives.
Civic Pride: Commercials for LGBT Destinations
After examining the message of the nation’s first widespread tourism campaign targeting the LGBT community, participants brainstorm ideas for a print or commercial ad advertising their hometown as an LGBT-friendly destination.
Men’s Magazines
Participants analyze the content of magazines targeting male audiences.
Target Audiences of Magazines
After discussing target audiences for women’s magazines, participants select other magazines and examine both ads and editorial content to determine their target audiences.
