Ads rarely just list facts. They use persuasion techniques: tried-and-tested ways to make people feel, trust, or hurry. Once students can name the technique, they can use it in their own ads and notice it when it is used on them. In this activity, students analyze four ads in a T-chart: the ad on the left, and on the right the technique, how it persuades, and whether it is fair to the customer.
Many of these techniques are also used in political messages; our Types of Propaganda: Techniques and Examples article covers them in more depth and works well as a follow-up.
| THE AD (LEFT) | TECHNIQUE AND HOW IT PERSUADES (RIGHT) |
|---|---|
| "Join the 300 families at Lincoln Middle School who already use TagBack." | Bandwagon: makes parents feel they are missing out. Fair if the number is true. |
| Coach Ellis: "My team hasn't lost a water bottle since October." | Testimonial: a coach parents already trust vouches for it. Fair if she really uses it and isn't paid to say it. |
| "Back-to-school deal: $8 a pack, this week only!" | Scarcity: pushes parents to decide now instead of thinking it over. Fair only if the deal really ends. |
| A child looks sad about a lost hoodie his grandmother knitted, then gets it back. | Emotional appeal: sells a feeling (relief) rather than a feature. Fair, as long as the product can really do what the ad shows. |
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Create a T-chart that analyzes the persuasion technique in four ads.
Teach bandwagon, testimonial, scarcity, emotional appeal, and glittering generalities with one quick example of each.
Walk through one TagBack ad as a class: name the technique, say how it persuades, and decide whether it is fair.
Students find or describe four ads, from print, video, or the web, and draw each one on the left of the T-chart.
For each ad, students name the technique, explain how it works, and judge whether it is fair.
As an extension, students rewrite one unfair ad so it persuades with true information only.
Five that students can learn quickly are bandwagon (everyone is doing it), testimonial (a trusted person recommends it), scarcity (it is running out or ending soon), emotional appeal (a feeling instead of a fact), and glittering generalities (big, vague words such as "the best ever"). Most real ads combine two or three.
Both work. The example uses invented TagBack ads so the techniques are easy to see. For their own T-charts, students can describe real print or video ads, but they should draw the ad themselves rather than copying logos or characters. Analyzing real ads is where students start noticing techniques used on them every day.
The techniques overlap; the difference is mostly purpose. Advertising persuades people to buy, while propaganda tries to shape beliefs, often about politics or groups of people, and may hide its source. Our Types of Propaganda article is a good follow-up once students can name the techniques in ads.
Naming the technique is only half the skill. Judging fairness (is the number true, is the testimonial paid, does the deal really end?) turns students from targets into critical viewers, and it prepares them for the Ad Ethics Dilemma activity. A technique isn't unfair in itself; it becomes unfair when it misleads.
For each ad, give 1 point for naming the technique correctly, 1 for explaining how it changes what the viewer feels or does, and 1 for a fairness judgment with a reason. Four ads make a 12-point chart. For grades 6 to 8, use three techniques and give students the ads to analyze.