Last Updated on January 1, 2025 by Laura
I’m all about seizing the teachable moment, so I’ve got the perfect media literacy lesson for you to use leading up to or immediately following the Super Bowl! It’s that time of year when more and more students are discussing football and their favorite teams. They come to school on Mondays talking about what happened at the latest playoff games. Excitement builds with each passing week. That’s why this is the perfect time to hook students with a great lesson focusing on media literacy skills. I’ve got a fun and engaging lesson using Super Bowl commercials that will create quite the buzz in your elementary library!
Set the Stage for the Super Bowl
Lay the groundwork a few weeks ahead of time by creating a library book display of football books. It’s also the perfect time to emphasize the sports section (796) and talk about the Dewey Decimal System. Do you do an attendance question? How about “What’s your favorite football team?” Our Primary Source of the Week features a photograph of a football game from sometime between 1905 and 1945. The week before the Super Bowl, change your attendance question to “Who do you want to win the Super Bowl?” or “Who do you predict will win the Super Bowl?”
Lay a Foundation for Media Literacy
The media literacy lessons I created take 2-3 class periods (my class sessions were 30 minutes), and I use them with my fourth and fifth grade classes. For the first class session, I tell the students that companies are working on their advertisements for the upcoming Super Bowl. I have a slideshow of persuasive techniques used in advertising that I use to guide our first discussion. We talk about the purpose of advertising (to get us to spend our money), and why it’s worthwhile for companies to spend big money on commercials that air during large events like the Super Bowl.
Understanding Persuasive Techniques
One of the best tips to pass on to students are the following four questions to consider when viewing a commercial, or any type of advertisement:
- Who made the ad?
- What message are they communicating?
- What do they want me to do?
- How are they trying to convince me?
The slide show I use covers 5 common advertising techniques used in television commercials:
- Involvement
- Humor
- Association
- Brand Recognition
- Emotion
Critical Thinkers Analyze Advertising Techniques
I use a “vintage” commercial from past Super Bowl games to represent each advertising technique to show as a sample. This usually generates a lively discussion, and students make connections to other ads that use the same techniques! I have students take notes on each technique to use for an activity the next class session.
During the next class session, students work with partners. They watch a commercial from the 2020 Super Bowl and decide which technique (or techniques) are the strongest in the ad. Of course, there are several correct answers, so as long as they can justify their answer, it is correct! You can find Super Bowl commercials at the following website: https://superbowl-ads.com/ I don’t turn the kids loose on this site, however, since some commercials feature alcohol and other subject matter not suitable for elementary aged children.
I created an answer sheet and have the kids work in pairs so they will have conversations about the techniques. I love the discussion this activity generates! Here are some comments I’ve overheard these discussions:
- I love that!
- Okay, that’s Emotion.
- The Microsoft commercial is really emotional.
- That’s probably Brand Recognition – they did show the brand at the end.
- I love that!
- That’s my favorite!
- That’s O’Dell!
Family Involvement: At-Home Challenge
Families can get in on the fun and reinforce these important media literacy concepts! My At-Home Challenge is a great opportunity for family engagement. The activity page has the five advertising techniques on one side and on the reverse they can list a commercial from the Super Bowl for each technique. Parents and students enjoy doing this activity together, and it generates some lively discussion at home. Students who return the At-Home Challenge can be entered into a drawing for a prize from the library!
An Important Life Skill
Media and its influence on us has changed dramatically over the years, and its influence is clearly getting stronger. Young or old, we’re all targeted by advertisements in many areas of our lives – websites, video games, billboards, email, social media… It’s extremely important that we help our students learn at a young age to think critically about advertisements so they can make informed decisions regarding their spending and behaviors. Media literacy lessons are more critical than ever before!
FREE Advertising Techniques Page
Choose your own videos and use this handy one-pager to teach your students about persuasive techniques used in advertising with this freebie. Click the image to download.
Grab this Media Literacy Lesson Today!
If you don’t have time to create your own lesson, I’ve got everything you need in my unit: Media Literacy: Advertising Techniques. This popular media literacy unit has been used in over 800 libraries and classrooms! It includes:
- Teacher’s Guide with Lesson Plans
- Slide presentation of 5 advertising techniques
- Links to video examples
- Student worksheets, differentiated for 4th and 5th grades
- At-Home Challenge page
- Digital student pages (PowerPoint) to upload to Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams
- Link to a website with 8 videos to analyze for advertising techniques
- Additional page of links to 8 newer videos
Click the image below to take a look at the preview!
Pin this Media Literacy Idea for Later!
Be the light! ~
Thank you for all your wonderful ideas! I started a k-4 position in January and your ideas have been so helpful! I hope to use many of them in the future.
Hi Anastasia! Thank you for stopping by. I’m glad you’ve found some useful ideas. Best wishes in your new position!
I can’t wait to try this idea out with my 4th and 5th graders. I’m excited to see if students will involve their parents with this activity during the super bowl. Thanks for the useful ideas!
Hi Laurie! It’s my hope that students will discuss these ideas with their parents! I am sending home the “At Home Challenge” with interested students and will do a drawing from the returned pages for a free book from our Book Fair. Since the Book Fair starts Monday, it’s perfect timing!