According to Bob McCannon, Executive Director of the New Mexico Media Literacy Project, advertisers spend approximately 20-40 million dollars on a single ad campaign. With this statistic in mind, it is clear that advertisers have a vested interest in manipulating us to purchase their products or they wouldn't spend this kind of money. During the last few days, you have spent some time learning how to read ads, examined the various appeals and claims advertisers use to manipulate us, and lastly, you worked on creating your own ads which parodied other ads or served to help consumers understand how they are being manipulated.

While you probably learned a great deal about how advertisers manipulate consumers, realize that there is still much more to learn. McCannon reminds us that "advertisers spend millions of dollars to research, write, shoot, test on focus groups, rewrite, reshoot, test market, produce, and distribute every scene in an ad. Most individuals cannot spend as much time and energy deconstructing as an advertising company spends constructing." Nonetheless, it is hoped that you will take what you have learned to help you become a more conscious consumer. Use what you now know to inform the decision making process you go through before purchasing a product.

Reflect upon the following quote by noted linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky, and then please answer the questions below.

"Citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to lay the basis for meaningful democracy."

In an effort to improve this unit to better meet the interests and needs of you, the student, please take some time to briefly respond to the following questions. You may email your responses or give the author a hard copy. Thanks for your input.

1. Do you feel like you actually learned about how advertisers manipulate consumers? Briefly explain why or why not.
2. What did you like best about this unit?
3. What did you like least about this unit?
4. How could this unit be improved?
5. Do you have any additional comments?

Introduction | Tasks | Evaluation | Conclusion | Teacher Page | Home