Advertising for Learning - Creating Super Bowl Commercials in Social Studies

While watching the Super Bowl last night, I was struck by the incredible phenomenon this event has become. Although it is a football game, its appeal expands far beyond sports. The Super Bowl is nearly always the highest rated television program of the year and comprises 19 of the 20 most watched television broadcasts in the United States (the MASH finale is the other one). This event transcends sports, having become a cultural sensation that permeates nearly every segment of our society. Those who are not football fans are drawn in by the commercials, the halftime show, or the general hoopla that surrounds events of this magnitude. In some cases, people tune in simply to have knowledge of a sure topic of conversation at workplaces, schools, and social gatherings across the United States. Regardless of why people watch, this event has become an expression of American culture. 

Last night, while watching and considering the significance of the Super Bowl, I began thinking about the power educators wield when we connect events that are important to students with learning. I know there are many different lessons that leverage student interest in the Super Bowl to reinforce important concepts. I’ve seen lessons that seek to emphasize math, economics, advertising, media literacy, and many other concepts. I’m all for these types of lessons. I think we, as educators, must use every means at our disposal to pique student interest in our content and to make learning relevant to their lives. 

Thinking through this led me to consider how we can apply the spectacle of the Super Bowl to a social studies class. I’m sure there are great lessons that look at the cultural impact of the Super Bowl. Additionally, students could examine the economic impact of this event. There is also an opportunity, especially in this year’s politically charged climate, to analyze political statements, whether overt or implied by performers, commercials, etc. While thinking about the many educational tie-ins offered by an event of this significance, I came to the conclusion that it would be fun to have students create their own Super Bowl commercials. The commercials are a big part of the cultural draw of the Super Bowl and are often a talking point for days afterward. This activity also allows teachers to inject a discussion of media literacy and current events into a lesson that draws upon this shared national experience. 

I have not thought through all the specifics of a lesson related to Super Bowl commercials, but I wanted to share a few possibilities of how this idea could be applied to a history or social studies course. Students could be tasked with investigating products or items of cultural significance from an era in history and creating a commercial to advertise one of these items. Although this could be applied to nearly any topic, I see it fitting very well with time periods such as the late 19th century, the 1920s or the 1950s. These eras were more consumer-oriented and included a number of new products and inventions that have had a lasting impact on our society. 

Geography or world cultures students could determine what events would be comparable to the Super Bowl in different countries, cultures, or regions of the world and develop commercials that could be applicable for these events. These ads could promote a consumer item, a cause, or something else that would be significant for the region being studied. Alternatively, students could develop ads for their class. These commercials could recap learning, highlight class activities, and/or promote the class to other students. 

Ideally, students would have plenty of time to investigate their topic, film a commercial, and perform edits to create a polished final product. However, if time constraints don’t allow for full implementation of this idea, the teacher could provide information and students could act their commercials out as live skits rather than taking time to film and edit a video commercial. Either way, I feel it is important to incorporate lessons on advertising techniques and media literacy along with this project. This helps ensure that students are not only learning our content, but also becoming knowledgeable 21st century citizens. 

Regardless of whether the final product is a video or a skit, I like the idea of having a viewing party that resembles a Super Bowl party as a culminating activity for this project. Commercials could also be posted online, allowing for a broader audience and students could be encouraged to comment on each others’ ads much like the commentary that accompanies Super Bowl commercials. This creates a great opportunity for a valuable discussion of digital citizenship and how to comment or respond appropriately online. 

In my experience, students love the opportunity to create. The process of creating a commercial requires students to apply their learning and to utilize many different skills, including the 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration, all while engaging in an activity that many students would enjoy. Please share any experiences you have had with a project like this or any additional ideas you may have that could enhance student learning in this type of lesson.

BFG (Building Familiarity with Gilded) -- Lesson Ideas for the Gilded Age

Dahl, Roald, and Quentin Blake. The BFG. Digital image. The BFG. Wikipedia, 26 Oct. 2008. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.

Sometimes it’s interesting where our ideas come from. Recently, while reading Roald Dahl’s The BFG with my kids, we came across the term gilded. As we stopped to discuss this word and ensure everyone understood it’s meaning, the history teacher in me took over and I immediately began thinking of the Gilded Age and of ways to explain this period to students.

When introducing this era, I often start with the term gilded. This leads us into a discussion of why a term meaning covered in gold, or having an appearance that conceals something of little value, is used to describe a historical era. This often leads to some great predictions from students and gets them thinking about the time period we are going to study.

I have always felt it is important for students to understand that the Gilded Age was a time of change in the United States and that this change benefitted some at the expense of others. My approach to achieving this instructional goal varied over the years. Several times I had students create Animoto videos as a response to an essential question related to this era in history (This project was very similar to the activity I wrote about in Picture Perfect – Creating Animoto Videos to Illustrate Life During the Great Depression).

Riis, Jacob A. How the Other Half Lives. Digital image. How the Other Half Lives. Wikipedia, 19 Aug. 2007. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.

The Gilded Age also provides a great opportunity to work on image analysis. There are a number of excellent images from the Gilded Age for students to analyze. I enjoy using images and excerpts from Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives. Riis’ photographs take us into the lives of many ordinary people in the late 19^th century and really drive home the inequity of the era for students.

This is also a great era to work on analysis of political cartoons. I love using Thomas Nast’s cartoons to help illustrate key issues of the Gilded Age (Nast’s works are available through many different sources, including the Library of Congress). These cartoons are not only telling about the era, but they also provide an opportunity for students to practice analyzing political cartoons. There are many different effective approaches to teaching students how to analyze political cartoons; I often discuss the persuasive techniques common to political cartoons and use the Primary Source Analysis Tool for political cartoons from the Library of Congress. Through this process I want to stress to students that they need to look for symbols in the cartoon, see what action is taking place in the cartoon, examine any text (speech/thought bubbles, captions, labels, etc.), and then determine the message and/or opinion put forth in the cartoon.

As I was explaining the term gilded to my kids recently, I thought of another instructional strategy that allows students to demonstrate understanding of the changes and inequities of this era in history. I think it would be a great activity to have students illustrate how the term gilded represents this time period. Students could create drawings showing wealth and perceived progress covering up the exploitation and problems within American society. This allows students to demonstrate their understanding of the United States’ struggles with growth and the conflicts between wealth vs. poverty, urban vs. rural, industrial vs. artisan, reform vs. corruption, etc. Drawings are an excellent way to assess student understanding of key concepts.

I have used student illustrates to gauge understanding in the past, but I guess I had never thought of applying it to this topic. I like the idea of asking students to draw. This allows them to express their creativity and gives students who are better at expressing themselves in this way an opportunity to demonstrate understanding.