Year 7 - Consumer Culture

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Above: Food for the Wallet, photo by Dinkel CC-BY-2.0

In this unit, students will focus on using critical literacy skills to explore consumer culture and the world of advertising. The students will use critical literacy strategies to inquire into both the obvious and the ambiguous messages behind advertising. They will undertake critical and creative work, including speaking and listening activities such as ‘where do I stand; activities, small group discussions and short debates.... Students will complete an advertisement analysis and will closely examine text extracts. They will also participate in viewing experiences. Student thinking will be captured in graphic organisers and low stakes writing tasks as they build their understanding of consumer culture. They will design their own fad campaigns, research the advertising world, and will finally develop their own set of criteria to inform others of what it means to be consumer savvy in the 21st century.


Lesson Sequence

Australian Curriculum: English Year 7

Sequence 1: What do we know about being persuasive?

Sequence 2: Why do we love brands so much?

Sequence 3: Persuasive techniques used in advertising – Part 1

Sequence 4: Persuasive techniques used in advertising – Part 2

Sequence 5: Clever or kitsch? Advertising gimmicks and fads

Sequence 6: Connections between advertising and lifestyles

Sequence 7: Online marketing and consumer habits

Sequence 8: What will the future of advertising bring?

Sequence 9: The ethical consumer: Part 1

Sequence 10: The ethical consumer: Part 2

Sequence 11: Being consumer savvy in the 21st century: Part 1

Sequence 12: Being consumer savvy in the 21st century: Part 2


Duration and sequence pathways:

This unit is designed to be taught over eight weeks, with suggested pathways that could be moved to allow the unit to be taught in six weeks (two sequences per week). Alternatively, just the one sequence in the unit may be selected.

Duration and pathways: Using this unit in the classroom

In this unit students will use critical literacy skills to inquire into the world of advertising. They will address the essential question presented, and further questions arising from the issues of consumer culture and the ways advertisers use persuasive techniques to draw in and influence an audience.

As critical inquirers, this unit will help students to understand more about the numerous persuasive, creative and sub-textual techniques and elements at play in advertising, how they interact and with what effect. This will include the techniques and language advertisers use to position and manipulate audiences. Students will recognise that it is important to become consumer savvy and to make more informed consumer decisions, particularly in an age where so much information is shared in digital and visual forms and is easily accessible. Being consumer savvy means learning about the many marketing techniques employed by advertisers, including the many new and clever strategies that have emerged in the 21st century.

The unit can be conceptualised as a larger inquiry-based unit with 12 connected learning sequences. It ranges from the introductory sequence that provides the front loading or tuning in for further learning, to guided activities and scaffolded sequences based on a key question or concept (Sequences 2 to 10) and finally, the culminating project to demonstrate understanding: creating a guide to being consumer savvy in the 21st century (Sequences 11 and 12).

Teachers can opt to use some or all of the activities presented, or indeed modify activities, content and modes of presentation to suit the context of their schools.

The unit could be broken into parts based on a question that guides a particular learning sequence. For example, a specific focus on ethical consumerism will draw on content from Sequences 9 and 10. A focus on student-designed advertising campaigns can draw on content from Sequences 3, 4 and 5. A closer focus could be made on the process of writing a guide, using Sequences 11 and 12.

Unit writer:

Erika Boas is the Assistant Principal of the Middle School at Ogilvie High School in Tasmania. She oversees the teaching and learning and pastoral programs for students in Years 7 and 8. She has taught English for 18 years and is passionate about the use of inquiry-based pedagogies to engage students in deep learning.

Rich assessment tasks:

The students complete a series of formative assessment tasks to track their understandings throughout the unit, and present them in a portfolio for assessment. Receptive assessment involves the compilation of worksheets and written reflections in an advertising journal, or digital blog as an alternative, as detailed in Assessment task 1. The productive assessment tasks involve the creation of a fad campaign and a guide to being consumer savvy in the 21st century (Assessment task 2), from Sequences 5, 11 and 12.

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