Lesson 5
Putting pressure on the media:
 Praising the good and protesting the bad

1. Overview
1.	Class discussion
2.	How can we engage in activism?
3.	PowerPoint Presentation: Good ads/ Bad ads
4.	Strategies for effective activism
5.	Emailing advertisers: Letters of praise/protest  

2. Class Discussion

What is ‘consumer activism’?

Can you think of any examples of activism?

What does it mean if an advertisement sends a healthy message?

What does it mean if an advertisement sends an unhealthy message?

3. Activities

Brainstorming ways we can engage in activism  

This activity will involve:
1.	Getting into small groups (3-4 people)
2.	Pretend you have just seen an advertisement that you think is offensive or sends an unhealthy message.
3.	What could you do about it?
4.	Come up with as many ideas as you can
5.	Each group will share their answers with the class. 

Strategies for effective activism

You and a partner will choose an ad that you think sends a very healthy or very unhealthy message to consumers.  Your task will be to write a letter to the company that made the ad and express your view on why you think it’s a healthy/unhealthy ad and what you would like the company to do about it.

For writing these letters, it’s important to have strategies in mind to increase the chances of the company listening to you and taking the action you would like them to (e.g., removing the ad from magazines).

Here are some ideas about being effective in your activism: 
1.	Be sure you are sending it to the right people!
2.	Provide ways for the people to respond (e.g., ask them to email you back!)
3.	Speak the language of the target audience 
4.	Messages should be respectful and polite
5.	Be clear about what you want your audience to think/do (e.g., use a greater variety of body shapes in their advertising)
6.	Are there any other ideas you can think of?

Look At The Advertisement You’ve Chosen…

1. Who is the advertisement targeting? (e.g., young people, women etc)

2. What words are used in the advertisement?

3. What is the advertisement really saying?

4. What persuasion techniques are used? (how does the advertiser try to encourage us to buy their product?)

5. In what ways does this advertisement convey a healthy/unhealthy message? (do you think people would feel better/worse about themselves after seeing the ad?)

Example Letter

Dear _____________________

We are sending you this letter to congratulate you/express our concern on your magazine advertisement for ________________________________________________________.

The ad shows (describe the ad) ______________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.

The message your advertisement sends is ______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

This type of advertisement is helpful/unhelpful because___________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.

The advertisement made us feel _____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

As critical viewers of the media and caring members of the community, we believe it is important for advertisements to promote positive self-image in young people.  Therefore, we ask that you   __________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Yours sincerely,

Lesson 5 Take Home Message
We can do things at an individual, group or society level to protest against unhealthy media messages or other things we are unhappy with.  It can make us feel happy and proud to stand up for what we believe in, especially when we bring about change.