Because television commercials are short, entertaining, culturally rich
examples of English, they are frequently used in EFL courses. However, judging
from the literature on the subject, as well as the approaches in available
textbooks, most English courses using television commercials focus primarily,
if not exclusively, on listening and reading comprehension. In Language
Learning in the Age of Satellite Television, Ulrike H. Meinhof demonstrates
a different approach to TV commercials and makes this suggestion to teachers:
. . . foreground issues of representation, intertextual
references, symbolic meanings, and connotations right from the start and
make them part of the language learning activities. It is not the language
of the advert itself which provides the content for learning, but the whole
range of things one can do with adverts. More than is the case with any
of the other genres, learning from adverts is learning to play the semiotic
game.
Following Meinhof's lead, the authors have created a content-based English
course on television commercials that explores the symbolic in commercials.
In this course, Japanese college students, through analytical and creative
processes, begin to "play the semiotic game."
The activities in this course are designed to meet four objectives:
- Vocabulary: Learn and use key terms for describing and analyzing television
commercials - Analysis: Describe and analyze TV commercials viewed in class
- Group Projects: Plan, create, and present original TV commercials
- Writing: Analyze and critique TV commercials in writing
The course cycles through analysis, creative group projects, and writing
activities three times during the year, focusing on different types of commercials
with each cycle. For example, this year the course began with car commercials,
moved on to food and beverage commercials, and finished with public service
announcements. Following are descriptions of some of the class activities
and materials developed for this course, as well as a discussion of the
results achieved.
Vocabulary: Learn and use key terms for describing and analyzing television
commercials
For students to function in this course they must master a set of content-related
vocabulary, including key terms such as "product," "sponsor,"
and "target audience." Also, to discuss, for example, the target
audience of a particular American commercial, students need the vocabulary
used to describe characteristics of target audiences, terms such as "gender,"
"race," and "class." At the beginning of this course
we use mainly American commercials to help us define as far as possible
a specific cultural context. Later in the course we introduce a range of
English-language commercials from different countries. Finally, to evaluate
and analyze the commercials, students need to learn a few critical terms,
such as "tone" and "irony."
Students are given vocabulary sheets at the beginning of the year that
serve as a glossary of terms needed during the year. Quizzes are then used
throughout the year to check that students are keeping up with the terms
needed for the class assignments and discussions. The vocabulary quizzes
require that they both define the terms and use them. For example, if they
are defining "sponsor," they must be able to write that the sponsor
of a Volvo car commercial is the Volvo car manufacturing company. Although
learning vocabulary may seem like a simple task, we find that actually learning
to use new vocabulary in discussion and writing is a big stumbling block
for many students. Again and again students prove capable of memorizing
lists of words just long enough to pass a test, and then of being at a complete
loss when these same words show up on a test question or in a class discussion.
The vocabulary quiz is the only means we have discovered to motivate students
to learn vocabulary for long-term use.
Analysis: Describe and analyze TV commercials viewed in class
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An Italian aria sung by a female vocalist is played throughout. A young |
This commercial was chosen because it has so many clear indicators of
a specific target audience, and because the symbolic content is fairly obvious.
Before viewing the commercial, students receive a transcript of the language
used in the commercial. Students are given transcripts of all commercials
in this course before they view them. The language in the commercials is
no more our focus than any other element in the commercial. As Meinhof points
out, commercials are "poor linguistic models." Our objective is
to move beyond language comprehension and into analysis and criticism as
quickly as possible. After reading a transcript, students view the commercial
a few times in a row.
The initial class activity is to describe the Volvo commercial in detail.
Students work on this activity in groups of four to six members so that
they can talk easily among themselves. Their first task is to identify the
sponsor and product. If they have learned the key terms on their vocabulary
sheets, this should be easy. Next they are asked to isolate and list as
many of the visual images and sounds in the commercial as they can remember.
For the images, the students' lists might include "crashing grand piano"
and "20 to 30-year-old attractive dark-haired white woman." For
sounds, students identify opera music, the whipping sound of a rope breaking,
even the faint sounds of creaking as the piano falls through the air. Questions
such as "How old are the two actors in the car," and "Judging
from voice alone, how old do you think the narrator is?" encourage
students to be as specific as possible in their descriptions of images and
sounds. After attempting to make these lists, students are eager to view
the commercial several more times to confirm their memories and settle debates.
Most students need their dictionaries to describe the commercial in detail
and need assistance in finding words like "unraveling" or "creaking."
Also, in each class there are inevitably students who confuse "images"
as in visual details with "image" as in projected character and
so list words like "rich" or "safe" in their images
list. This first exercise allows the teacher to check student comprehension
of key terms. It also impresses upon the students the complexity of individual
television commercials.
Once students have finished describing the commercial, we ask them to
define the target audience for the commercial. Deducing the target audience
from the commercial foregrounds the question of why a particular set of
images and sounds were chosen to advertise a particular product. This question
will serve to "make strange" the commercials (as Meinhof puts
it) by reminding students that nothing in a commercial is accidental, that
all details imply a marketing strategy with all of its unvoiced assumptions
about the product and the audience.
Most students can offer opinions about the target audience of the Volvo
commercial. They recognize that the product in this case is an expensive
car, and the high price of the product plus the age of the two actors in
the car seem to be the elements that most influence their initial ideas
about the target audience. By asking students to identify the gender and
age of the target audience, we focus first on audience characteristics that
require the least explanation. They are required to identify age by a range
of ten or twenty years. Otherwise, students come up with vague descriptions
like, "all people who can drive." To demonstrate that an analysis
of details of the commercial is required, it is important that students
understand the difference between a general television audience and a specific
target audience. Volvo is pitching to television watchers, but Volvo is
clearly not concerned with any and all television watchers, nor are they
talking to any and all drivers of cars-another favorite student response
to this question.
In discussing the target audience, students should understand that there
is no one "right" answer: We do not have a crystal ball showing
the thoughts of Volvo management or its advertising agency, and viewers
inevitably interpret the same images and sounds in different ways. After
age and gender are discussed (almost all American car commercials suggest
a male audience to my students), a brief (and no doubt simplistic) outline
of the American class system can facilitate a discussion of the several
elements in the commercial (the shiny, black grand piano and the way it
echoes the shiny black car below, the opera music, the glamorous yet conservative
appearance of the actors in the car, even the old residential city neighborhood
in which the scene was filmed) which conspire to suggest an upper-middle-class
target audience.
Finally, students are required to paraphrase in writing the central message
of the commercial. The verbal message in the commercial is an understated
invitation to "consider" a new Volvo, along with the final gentle
words of warning, "Drive safely." But the images in the commercial
send a different message-one that is at once frightening and comic. There
is a clear contrast between the explicit and implicit messages. Students
recognize that the commercial is not simply about driving safely, and that
the image of a crashing piano has nothing to do with the introduction of
a new Volvo model-in short, that the content of the commercial is not adequately
represented by the few words in the commercial.
To simplify the task of formulating a central message, the teacher can
suggest that students try using a set of formulas for phrasing a promise
or a threat, for example: "If you buy this product, (something good)
will happen" or "If you don't buy this product (something bad)
will happen." Given these formulas, most students identify safety as
central to the message in this commercial, and come up with a message like,
"If you buy this Volvo, you will be safe from accidents." Typically
there are also some students who perceive the message to be about "looking
rich" or "being able to kiss your girlfriend." Again, this
is a good time to encourage differences of opinion and to emphasize that
there are always many messages created by the same images and sounds. As
students will soon be expected to analyze and evaluate commercials independently
and defend their own conclusions, they need to be liberated as far as possible
from trying to guess the one "right" answer.
Although it can take as much as two class periods to complete if all
students are participating, the class work on the Volvo commercial is worth
the time because it can serve as a prototype for future class work. In fact,
once students have finished describing and analyzing this one commercial,
the form "Describing a TV commercial" can be introduced, along
with a sample of how this form looks when filled out to describe the Volvo
commercial. (See Appendix A for the form.) This form gives students both
a visual reminder of the process of description and analysis and examples
of the language used in this process. Students are then ready to describe
and analyze other commercials with less help from the teacher.
The class next views other car commercials chosen for appeal, symbolic
content, and variety. Student teams describe and then analyze these commercials,
with the ultimate goal of identifying the target audience and unspoken messages.
Each commercial can now be covered more quickly, and the teacher's role
can be that of playing the videos, providing consultation about language,
and raising questions about the symbolic content of the commercial.
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The camera focuses on a plastic toy doll dressed in safari-style clothing |
When working on the Nissan commercial, the teacher can challenge students
to think about why that particular Van Halen guitar music is used, what
the lyrics of the song might add, what popular figure the driver might resemble
(some students recognize "Indy Jones," as Indiana Jones is called
in Japan), why the doll drives from the boy's room into the girl's room,
why the two dolls in the fancy dollhouse start out with tennis clothes on,
and what purpose the actor at the very end might serve. (He bears a striking
resemblance to a founding Nissan designer, the "father of the Z car."
But is he used effectively?) Discussion of this commercial can raise a variety
of questions about the representation of class and gender in advertising.
Not only does the driver of the sports car move from the boy's room to the
girl's room, but he also seems to be "crossing the tracks," (he
does, in fact, cross a set of toy railroad tracks) by driving into a room
with a fancy, three-storied doll's house and the tennis playing dolls. Not
only does he get a beautiful girl with a flashy car, but also he gets a
"classy" girl away from a "classy" home and boyfriend.
In discussing these elements of the commercial, students can begin thinking
about how certain implicit messages make them feel, what kind of political
or social assumptions can be conveyed in commercials, and what the tone
of the commercial might be.
After students describe and analyze several car commercials in teams,
they should be ready to do this same kind of work alone. The task of analyzing
a new commercial can serve as a written exam. At this point in the course
students are becoming accustomed to generating opinions about the target
audience and unspoken message from an analysis of the details of the commercial,
and to stating these opinions in discussions and writing.
Group Project: Plan, create, and defend original TV commercials
The first group project is to plan an American TV commercial for a new,
expensive line of baby food. (See Appendix B for the assignment sheet.)
We chose baby food as the product because it has such a clear, narrow target
audience. The detailed description of the baby food (an expensive, "organically
grown" food that comes in frozen pouches) further differentiates it
from competing products and narrows the target audience. From the product
information, students must decide on a target audience, choose an appropriate
message, and then work together to identify the best sounds and images for
conveying this message.
It only takes s few qmbitious students to raise the standard
for the entire class.
Before they begin these plans, students are told that their commercials
should be appropriate to the audience and product, and that they should
be clear, convincing, and memorable. We talk briefly about what kinds of
techniques and elements in commercials typically help achieve these qualities.
(For example, naming the product and showing the product in use during the
commercial are both techniques that help with clarity. To convince, advertisers
may include detailed information, use "experts" or celebrities,
stage realistic demonstrations and pseudo-scientific "tests" of
their product, and create scenarios designed to play on emotions. To make
a commercial memorable, advertisers use elements such as humor, rhyme, jingles,
music, mystery, suspense, and surprise.) These four criteria for success
provide a common language for discussing and appraising the projects.
This assignment to plan a commercial prepares students for their next
round of projects, when they actually "produce" a commercial.
Without this exercise in planning a commercial, students tend to create
commercials that emulate something they've seen on television, with little
thought to whether their ideas are effective approaches to marketing a particular
product. Also, this assignment is a reminder that professional TV commercials
are deliberate constructions and worthy of detailed analysis.
There are several challenges in this assignment that provide opportunities
for dialogue between teacher and student. For example, students will probably
not know that American mothers, at least the affluent mothers purchasing
this expensive product, may be quite a bit older than their Japanese counterparts.
Also, students are often not able to predict the connotations of certain
images in a foreign culture. A team of students who used angels in a commercial
for baby food did not understand that in a Christian culture angles can
be suggestive of death, and might therefore be problematic when marketing
to the parents of newborns. Students who want to use references from their
own culture in these projects, such as Japanese super heroes, cartoon characters,
and celebrities need help in sorting out which cultural figures and allusions
are accessible to an American audience (Godzilla, ninja, samurai) and which
are not (Doraemon, Anpanman). For foreign English teachers, discussions
of these kinds are opportunities to learn about Japanese popular culture
while their students learn about a foreign pop culture.
In subsequent group projects, students are asked to select a product
from the general category of commercial we have just been studying. In this
year's course, the student projects were first Food and Beverage Commercials
and then Public Service Announcements. (See Appendix C for the Group Project
sheet.) Students submit a detailed plan, at which time we discuss and remedy
any problems with their language. Then students go ahead and "produce"
their commercials by using skits, storyboards, puppet shows, or videos to
present the commercial to the class. As some students have access to fairly
sophisticated video equipment while others do not, students are advised
that meeting the previously discussed criteria for success is more important
than creating a slick commercial.
Despite all the discussion and planning, students inevitably start out
creating commercials with themselves in mind as the target audience. Invariably
several female teams create commercials using squeaky stuffed animals, elves,
and characters from fairy tales. Male teams tend to favor macabre or surreal
approaches, and frequently use assorted monsters, motorcycles, and gritty
urban scenes with a hard rock soundtrack. In fact, this year, one team used
a vampire theme to advertise milk. When evaluating their commercials, we
try to talk about the way certain approaches might backfire (such as associating
a brand of milk with blood), but in general we are quite accepting of their
various approaches, but less so of errors in language, since they are given
time to consult with the teacher and get the English right.
We have found that students need about three class periods to complete
this type of project, assuming that at least half of the time spent on the
project is outside of class. On presentation days, students are asked to
take notes and warned that they will be expected to evaluate and analyze
their peers' commercials in the future. Students are often more critical
of each other's projects than the teacher is, and are willing to speak up
about the strengths and weaknesses of student work. This is especially true
when they are shown projects from other classes. To facilitate frank discussion,
we frequently videotape the presentations not already on video (the skits,
storyboards, etc.) to show in other classes. Encouraging students to evaluate
each other's commercials is one more way that they can learn to view commercials
critically. They seem more likely to question the effectiveness of a professional
commercial once they have made and critiqued student commercials.
After presentation of the commercials, students rate each other's commercials
in class, using a scale of 15 points; five points each for being clear,
convincing, and memorable. This rating process immediately identifies problems
with particular commercials, which can then be discussed. For example, when
a humorous public service announcement on drunk driving earned a low rating
from most students, their response led to a discussion of problems of tone
in commercials. Students recognized that although they enjoyed the humor
in the announcement, it undercut the message. Another public service announcement
project was actually an ironic critique of a campus bus service. Although
entertaining and well-made, students objected that it didn't fill the role
of a service announcement, as it didn't communicate any new information
or recommend any action.
Writing: Analyze and evaluate TV commercials in writing
After students have viewed and discussed their group projects, we spend
some class time preparing students for a written exam. Students are told
that they will be expected to use the kinds of details they have been discussing
in their analysis and planning to support an argument written in paragraph
form. We hand out several model paragraphs that begin with an opinion about
commercials and then provide three or four concrete examples from the details
in commercials to support these opinions. As these paragraphs are meant
to serve as models for language and structure only, the opinions in them
are on commercials not covered by the test. Students are also given a new
vocabulary sheet, this one meant to serve as a sort of writing glossary,
with lists of words that they may need to use when writing critical paragraphs.
Modeling the use of verbs most often used in critical discourse seems particularly
helpful to students; learning to use words such as "conveys,"
"suggests" and "creates" helps them to break out of
the "is" trap.
The questions on the essay exams range from "Which is the most successful
(or least successful) public service announcement? To "Which commercial
has a serious problem with tone?" or "Which commercial most successfully
uses irony?" The exams allow students to choose three out of six questions
to write on, so that they aren't forced to argue an opinion they don't have
or to write about a commercial they can't remember. A full 90-minute class
period is devoted to completing the three paragraphs. Students are expected
to work alone, without help from each other, but they can refer to the list
of commercials they have viewed (since this is not a memorization test),
their class notes and dictionaries. In fact, during the class prior to the
exam, we give students a list of some of the questions they will see on
their writing exam. In the past a few students (usually the least fluent)
have prepared for this type of open-book exam by pre-writing whole paragraphs
before the test day. As students who do this are probably spending even
more time on the writing process than the 90 minutes allotted in class and
working even harder to support and clarify their views, we have not viewed
this type of "cheating" as a problem.
Content-based English classes in Japan can successfully
introduce the discourse of analysis.
Following are three student paragraphs written during an in-class exam
(and used here with permission) in response to the question, "Which
public service announcement (PSA) do you think is most successful and why?"
Student 1
I believe the most successful PSA is "Avoid the rush hour."
Because it has the effective method of contrast. The contrast between two
situations -- a businessman takes an earlier train or not (he takes a later
train) -- is very sharp. It is clear that the latter is better than the
former. The images of the former -- a man is going to attend his office
as soon as he wakes up, goes out of his gloomy room, walks through the narrow
path, gets into the sardine can -- suggest that his life is like a rush
hour train. The images of the latter -- he wakes up in sunshine, spends
a lot of time having breakfast and his hair set, plays with a cat, walks
on the quiet street -- suggest that his life is like a chartered train.
Also, the contrast of the music is very clear. And the actor's face expressions
have quite a contrast too. I believe the message of "Avoid the rush
hour."
Student 2
I think the announcement "Smoking" is the most effective. This
announcement uses words, visual images and sounds to convey a strong impact
for audience. The words are simple that 4 babies names and 4 babies weight
are explained and "2 packs a day" is last baby's explanation.
Their words are very easy to understand that there are big contrast about
three healthy babies but we understand he is different from other babies
and the reason why he is attacked by a serious illness. "2 packs a
day" is implied If you're pregnant because smoking will hurt your baby.
The visual images are very specific contrast that 3 babies and last baby.
The techniques of light are used to create contrast. Two colors of light
are used properly that golde light (probably the setting sun light) shines
on last baby. I feel the golden light is warm and peaceful that three babies
are surrounded by their parent's love, but the blue light is cold and lonely
that last baby is surrounded by incubator. The color of blue gives an effect
that he is more sick and smaller than other babies. The sounds that the
narrator's voice is soothing and music of opera is calming. This announcement
is intended for Pregnant. I think it will successfully appeal to them. Because
her soft voice doesn't surprise them and they are very easy to hear. So
their simple words and visuals will be glued to this screen and probably
they will be thought them about the ill effects of smoking after turn off
the TV set. If this "Smoking" anouncement is explained about the
ill effects of smoking that uses many words and visuals, they are boring
and having low impact and pay no attention to this screen. So, I think this
announcement is successfully create a convincing message.
Student 3
I think "Drunken Driving" is the most effective public service
annoucement. Because this announcement has realistic conversasion in the
situation that we lose friend because of accident. And visual image is so
hard. So the grave symbolizes death and Broken glasses symbolize accident
of Drunken Driving. And, Sound is silent. But, Suddenly, the scene is changed
and tone is changed too. Tone becomes to be dark and shocking. I think these
tone is used so that this announcement imply death of suddenly. The change
from silent to dark and shocking has impact and it is effective! So. This
annoucement is successful.
Obviously the three paragraphs represent a wide range of fluency and
present a variety of language problems. However, each student has achieved
at least some success. Student 1 writes a clear, concise answer with only
minor language difficulties. He offers a sufficiently convincing list of
details from the commercial to support his argument. We are able to read
and understand his opinion without stopping to re-read or puzzle out his
meaning. Perhaps his answer could be improved by a few more details about
the facial expressions and the music, but then, he knows he is addressing
someone who is quite familiar with the commercial under discussion. Student
2 has much less control over the language, and we are able to understand
the paragraph only after reading slowly and making some assumptions about
the writer's intention. (It helps, of course, that the reader is familiar
with the commercial and with the class discussion of that commercial.) The
student does provide several details from the commercial to support her
argument, however, and, despite a certain amount of awkwardness and rambling,
we are able to follow most of what she has written.
Student 3 has the least success in explaining his opinion. He starts
off well, but somehow moves into vague and somewhat confusing statements
about tone, after mentioning only two concrete details from the commercial
(the images of the grave and the broken glasses.) Still, he is at least
part of the way through the process of stating and then supporting an opinion,
and seems to understand what this process involves.
Results
A significant advantage to class activities that allow students to work
in groups and to assess each other's projects is that it only takes a few
ambitious students to raise the standards for the entire class. The course
we have described elicits more energy and effort from students as the year
progresses and they become inspired and challenged by each other. Also,
the group projects allow the teacher to communicate extensively with small
groups of students in ways that would be impossible in front of a class
of forty students, and that would require too much time if attempted one-on-one.
During work on the group projects, the classroom becomes a place where teacher
and student cooperate in solving problems and exchanging information. As
is ideally true in content-based courses, English becomes the medium rather
than the subject of the class. Although, as we have said, we try to focus
on the ideas and plans rather than the slickness of their presentations,
students in this course have often created quite sophisticated productions.
The range of ideas and approaches is always unpredictable and entertaining.
We have found that the creative group projects also give less fluent students,
who struggle with discussions and written exams, a chance to excel.
On the whole, students' written exam answers demonstrate that most students
are capable of constructing logical arguments to support their opinions
if given sufficient guidelines, models, and permission to do so. In fact,
it has been surprising just how quickly students become adept at this kind
of writing. Our experience in this course leads us to believe that content-based
English classes in Japan can successfully introduce the discourse of analysis.
Appendix A: Sample Form for Describing and Analyzing TV Commercials
Product: Volvo 850 GLT
Sponsor: Volvo car manufacturing company
Images: old apartment buildings in a quiet city neighborhood;
balcony and fire escapes; blue sky; crane; fat, middle-aged piano movers
in work clothes; late 20's or early 30's attractive couple kissing in a
car, the woman with dark hair and conservative make-up, the man blond; black,
shiny Volvo, fenders, doors, and sunroof; a grand piano, first hanging near
the balcony, then falling and finally crashing onto the street; streetlight
Sounds: opera music sung by female vocalist; deep male narrator's
voice; rope breaking; piano creaking as it falls; piano crashing; car starting;
engine whining as car accelerates
Verbal Message: "This seems like a good time to introduce
the new, more responsive Volvo 850 GLT. Drive Safely."
Nonverbal Messages: If you buy a Volvo 850 GLT, you and your family
will be safe. You must buy a Volvo to be safe. Your children will be safe
in a Volvo. A new Volvo will keep your children safe. Rich people who want
to be safe drive Volvos.
Target Audience: Upper-middle class white males, between 40 and
60 years old.
Appendix B: First Group Project Assignment
Assignment: Create a plan for an American television commercial to advertise
this product:
McGee's Healthy Baby Food: Frozen pouches of baby food that are more
expensive than the most popular brand and much more expensive than generic
brands. The label reads: All ingredients are organically grown! No pesticides,
no preservatives, no additives. Just good, 100% pure produce, fresh from
the garden and steam cooked. The marketing slogan is: "Just the way
you'd make it, if you made it yourself."
Step 1: Create a team of 3, 4, or 5 students to work on this assignment.
Step 2: Define the target audience for this product.
Step 3: Decide on a nonverbal message that you think would appeal
to this audience.
Step 4: Create a plan using the format shown below that shows
and explains in detail what your TV commercial will look like, including
the images, sounds, camera work, graphics, and words that you will use.
You may draw pictures to help show the images in the commercial if you like.
Images:
Sounds:
Explanation:
Appendix C: Group Project Plan Sheet
Please fill out this sheet and submit it to me along with a detailed
plan of the images, sounds and language you will use in your commercial.
(Only one plan from each group.) After we have discussed your plan together,
you can begin to produce the commercial. You should spend time outside of
class on this project. It is a major grade, and should be considered as
important as a mid-term or final exam.
Class Day And Time:
Group Members' Names and Student Numbers (3, 4, or 5 students):
Production Method (Circle one):
Story Boards
Video
Acting
Puppets
Other (please explain)
Product:
Target Audience (Please include an age range):
Nonverbal Message (The main point you are trying to make in your commercial):
Images:
Sounds:
Explanation:
References
Christians, Clifford, G., and Kim, B., Rotzoll, and Fackler, M. (1995).
(Eds.), Media ethics: Cases & moral reasoning (4th ed.). London:
Longman Press.
Davis, R. (1997). TV commercial messages: An untapped video resource
for content-based classes. The Language Teacher 21.(3), 13-15.
Fiske, John. (1999). The codes of television. In Morris, P., and Thornham,
S. (Eds.) Media studies: A reader (pp. 133-141). Edinburgh University
Press.
Furmanovsky, M. (1995). Culture and language through TV commercials.
In Kitao, K. (Editor in Chief). Culture and communication. (pp. 209-219).
Kyoto: Yamaguchi Shoten.
Meinhof, Ulrike, H. (1998). Language learning in the age of satellite
television. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Karen McGee is a native Californian who has been
teaching English in Japan since 1993. She is currently employed at Nihon
University College of Art.
Fujita Tomoko received her M.A. from the University of Houston,
and is now teaching at Rikkyo University. She is interested in testing and
research methodology.