Anti-Drug Ads

The next three posts deal specifically at looking at ways the advertisement industry targets teens. I try to teach students to look for the ads overall message and to pay close attention to what the ads are really selling. For their own poem, they can write a poem that is directed at the advertising business or even create a spoof ad. The following clips are all anti-drug ads. Take a closer look at these ads through a critical lens looking for the following:

1) Who is the intended audience?
2) What is the ads overall message?
3) Is their approach effective? Why or why not?
4) Do you think any of these ads go too far? Do scare tactics work long term?

McDonald's Rap

The following three posts deal with McDonald's ads. the point of critically analyzing these commercials is to see how we are manipulated by the media. Do we buy the brands that we are targeted for? How does advertisements effect us as consumers? As individuals? Please take a moment to view the three clips and decide the following:
1) Who is the intended audience?
2) What is the advertisement selling or not selling?
3) was it effective? Why or why not?

This clip I chose because I thought it was very clever and witty. I think this clip is intended to reach a fairly broad audience which ranges from teenagers, college students, and even thirty somethings that feel nostalgic for the broke days.

It also seems to be addressing themes that books like Fast Food Nation address such as the health risks of eating this type of food, especially long term.. The rapper keeps making comments that he doesn't care if it gives him a heart attack because he loves them too much.

The ad definitely has a Borat style to it as well. here are the lyrics:

Sittin' on the couch with the morning post
With a cold cup of coffee and some boring toast
Thinkin' I'm-a change it up, yeah that's always fun
What you reckon, Remz? A McDonald's run

So we hit the couch cushions, need some dollars, friend
Yo, I found a five. Man, that's Canadian.
How 'bout a loonie? A twonie? A spoon or The Goonies?
Oh, it's 10:25. Dude, you gotta move, G.

Got the cash, got the car, got the pedal to the floor
Speed limit's 25, but I'm doing 34
Going drive-thru style, man it's fast express
You can call it trans fat, I call it happiness

Roll up to the teller fella with a minute to spare
Frenchy with a headset, "can I take your order?"
A McGriddle with a little sweet and sour there, son
A McMuffin, then be stuffin' muffins up in my trunk

Then a tray or two of hotcakes, man I can't decide, uh...
All's I know is hit them things with Aunt Jemimah
How 'bout an egg fajita for some Texas flavor
No drama but my momma wants a breakfast bagel

Don't forget my #4, or there'll be hell to spend
And I want them eggs poached like an elephant
Frenchy back on the line, "is that all your order?"
No it ain't, fool, I want a Coca-Cola!

Get my cup of Coke and I'm-a start a riot
Cuz on the cup lid, dude depressed the "diet"
Check his shirt tag, and I catch the name
Brian, I ain't tryin' to drink aspartame

Sittin' on the couch, 'bout an hour later
Pickin' at a pouch of some Now n' Laters
Hardly starving, man, but I find a hunch
Start the car up fast because it's time for lunch

It just takes two bucks and I get what I need
Two beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese
"Supersize Me" said he's had enough of it
But how is it bad for my heart if I'm in love with it?

If you never had McDonald's, heck, well dude you should
It's a party, like a Hardee's, except the food is good
Just don't get a large #2, I plead with you friend
Cuz it'll be a large #2 when you see it again

Enter the store, first you holla, then you
Pick a couple items off the dollar menu
Four hot McNuggets, dessert with custard
Mix the sweet n' sour with a squirt of mustard.

A Big Mac attack, you can max the lettuce
Paying ain't a pain, they take cash or credit
Want a water? You can pay up there for spring
Or get the free Grimace cup--how embarassing

They say, "you're playing with a cardiac arrest, my boy"
Only thing bad for my heart's when they forget my toy
Now I'm-a have a milkshake, but before you rant
It's made of shamrocks--now that's a plant

People say it's bad, but I don't believe them
McDonald's is peace--just ask Tom Friedman
Momma catch me with a 'zine, and she's screaming "stop!
Don't you worry, Mom, it's just my man Ray Kroc

A female Ronald McDonald?

This next ad comes to us from Japan. It starts out with a girl with red hair in a Ronald McDonald costume. It zooms in on certain body parts and has a techno song playing in the background that keeps repeating, "I have all these things running through my head, running through my head." She is of course pretty, young, and thin. As the camera zooms in to get a closer look at her, we then see the sandwich that she is trying to sell. The intended audience is definitely teenagers and males. This is a perfect example of using sex appeal to sell your product.

Retro Mc Donalds Ad

This next ad brings me back to my childhood. The intended audience is definitely targeted towards young children from preschool age to elementary. It is also targeting parents by saying come and bring your child to McDoanlds and we will keep them occupied. In the ad, they have Ronald McDonald and all his friends dancing around with billboards that read McDonald's is YOUR place. The intended message being sold to children here is come hang out with your friends, eat good food, and be happy. They even have Muppet looking cheeseburgers singing! It felt like it came straight out of PBS. It made me feel as though Sesame Street was meeting the Muppets and/or Barney.

War Poetry

In this section, students can view and read poetry that deals with the issues of war. After analyzing these examples students will write their own war poem. they could write poem as if they are a soldier at war, they could protest the war, they could explain why the war is necessary, etc. It is their point of view that is important. Here is the first one in this collection entitled "Taxing the Poor." What do you think the author meant by this title? Pay close attention to the music as well as the images. Why do you think these were specifically chosen?



This next poem is a duet or dialogue poem that is presented by one veteran of the Gulf War with Maxine Hong Kinston. As you listen, how does this poem affect you? What images do they create in your mind as you listen?



Here is a poetry clip that deals with the innocent victims of war--the children.

Theme of Forgetfulness

This is a poem by Billy Collins that deals with the theme of forgetfulness. we all forget things now and then, but this poem seems to be speaking about a different kind of forgetfulness. What do you think?

Themes on Life and Identity

The following video clip done by the poet laureate, Billy Collins, where he looks at the way we see ourselves. The following few posts deal with this idea of self-identity and the characteristics we possess as individuals. Some of these as illustrated below deal with forgetfulness, life, and anger. Once students have examined these poems, they must create their own.

While you look at this animated poetry clip entitled "Some Days," by Billy Collins, what do you think his overall message is?



In the following animated poetry clip entitled "Now and then," by Billy Collins what is his overall message and how does it relate to this theme of life/identity?



Here is another poem on life and identity taken from Alicia Keyes book entitled "POW." As you read this what is her overall message? How does she use repitition in her poem and is it effective? What is the internal struggle that the speaker is going through?



Here is another poetry clip featuring Lauryn Hill. Her poem is entitled "Motives and Thoughts." What are the motives and thoughts that the speaker is trying to tell us about it? How does she feel about these? What is her overall message?



In this poem entitled "Apology to My Unborn," what is the mother's message to her child?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzyrHsYTveE

Themes of Death

Billy Collins is well known in the poetry world because of his ability to make his poems come alive through animation. Take a look at his poem, the Dead" below.