The New Mexico Media Literacy Project (NMMLP) sponsors an annual nation-wide essay writing contest for media literate middle and high school students. In the words of organizer Devin Lacko, this contest is open to "all students (grade 6-12) across the entire planet." The contest usually closes by May 1st, but this is a wonderful exercise in deconstructing ads, whether you enter the contest or not. Below is the description for the BadAd 2002 contest. Updated versions can be obtained from the NMMLP Web site.

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Corporate advertising dominates our world. In our media, in our schools, in our communities, the values of commercial advertising seem to reign supreme. It is high time, however, that concerned students, teachers, and citizens begin to talk back to advertisers. To help in this effort, the New Mexico Media Literacy Project, in conjunction with The Media Education Foundation and the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education, are sponsoring the fifth annual "BadAd 2002" essay-writing contest.

Here's how the contest works. Interested students in grades 5-12 select a current advertisement or advertising campaign that they find annoying, misleading, or offensive, and "talk back" to the ad. Students write an essay in an insightful and humorous manner, using any tools of analysis at their disposal.

The next steps are as follows:

Grades 5-8: 
Send a copy of the essay, along with an explanatory letter, to the people who make the product AND then, send a copy of the essay, along with an explanatory letter, to the publication that ran the advertisement (magazine or television station, etc.)

Grades 9-12 
Do the same as Grades 5-8. Additionally, high school students will help educate others about the advertisement they found. They can talk to their class, a class at another school (such as a middle or elementary school) or to another group of any kind. They can write a letter to the editor, make a video or a poster about the ad and the offending company and let them know why the ad is bad. Then, the student sends the essay, along with a copy of the advertisement, and copies of the letters they sent to the product people and publications to NMMLP's address below. Students in Grades 9-12 should also include a paragraph outlining how they educated others.

DEADLINE: Entries must be postmarked by May 15, 2004.

The winner of each essay contest (one for Grades 5-8, one for Grades 9-12) will receive a cash prize of $100. The winners' schools will receive free copies of the NMMLP's media literacy CD-ROMs "Understanding Media," "Reversing Addiction and Media Literacy for Health," copies of NMMLP's two videos, and a one year subscription to NMMLP's newsletter "The State of Media Education." And a video from The Media Education Foundation. Winners will be notified by late May. Let's help our students talk back to advertisers!

Contest Guidelines:

1. A participant must be enrolled in a public or private school and in Grades 5-12. In the submission, please include: the full name of the essayist, the name of the student's teacher and the school attended, the school address, and a telephone number where the essayist and the teacher may be reached.  2. The essay must:  A.  be no more than 600 words long.  B.  free of any grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.  C.  use various tools of analysis to "talk back to" the advertisement.  D.  must, in a humorous and thoughtful way, do three things:          - Describe the advertisement or ad campaign.          - Describe the techniques the ad uses for capturing young minds.          - Describe the messages/values the ad promotes - why is the ad potentially misleading or offensive to youth? 3. Each essay should be accompanied by the actual ad - include either a print copy or video cassette of the ad. If not, include a detailed description of the ad. 4. All essays must be postmarked by May 1, 2002. Late entries will not be read. Send all entries (the essay and accompanying ad) to: "BadAd2002" Essay Contest c/o the New Mexico Media Literacy Project 6400 Wyoming NE Albuquerque, NM 87109 5. While editorial suggestions from teachers are encouraged, the essay must reflect the student's own thoughts and work. All essays become the property of the contest committee and will not be returned unless a stamped, self-addressed envelope is included.

 

• clarity
• creativity
• humour
• accuracy of their observations
• the success with which the essayist convincingly accomplishes the three intellectual tasks listed in Item 2 in the contest guidelines.

• Emotions are the key advertisers use to persuade even the most "educated" audiences to consume products and services. Today's advertising is by necessity anti-intellectual, simplifying all subject matter. The advertiser's motto must be "Just do it." Never "Think then do it."
  
  Reasonable, logical, and reflective thinking hinder the emotional, and by extension, the consumptive process. Remember advertisers don't want you to think about it -- they want you to buy it!
  
  
• The neuro-physiology of the brain determines the power of text, sound, and image-based media messages. Together, images and music are more powerful than text. When we view images or listen to music, they are immediately stored in more ancient parts of the brain, which are most directly connected to the central nervous system. Images arouse the strongest emotions, and are more persuasive than sound. (Remember the saying: "Seeing is believing.")
  
  
• Details are crucial. Advertisers spend millions of dollars to research, write, shoot, test on focus groups, rewrite, re-shoot, test market, produce, and distribute every scene in an ad. Most individuals cannot spend as much time and energy in deconstruction as an advertising company spend in construction. With these three ideas in mind, follow the steps below to deconstruct an ad.

With these three ideas in mind, follow the steps below to deconstruct an ad.

Techniques of Persuasion

Identify and describe visual images, symbols and simple techniques of persuasion (flattery, humour, fear, hyperbole, the use of power words, distortions of fact and/or lies, repetition, testimonial, name calling, simplification, appeals to "scientific evidence," nostalgia, bandwagon - "everyone's doing it.")

Techno-Effects and Subliminal Images

Ask:

• How is the scene framed?
• What camera angles and lighting techniques are used?
• Where is the viewer positioned?
• What computerized effects are used?
• What kind of music is used?
• How do all of these effects contribute to the ad's power?

Emotions and the Story

Identify the story the ad is trying to tell. What "problems" will the product solve? What are the associations the ad makes with the product? What are the advertisers trying to get you to believe? What messages is the ad trying to send? What emotions does the ad appeal to? What is the "logic" behind the ad?

Texts and Subtexts: Intended and Unintended Effects

Who is the target audience for the ad? How do you know? Imagine a wide spectrum of audience responses to the ad. What meanings could different audiences construct from the ad? What message does the company want you to think about? What message do they want you to get, but not think about?

Marketing Strategy

Identify the strategy of the ad. Why is this ad running? How long has it been running? What does the corporation running the ad hope it will do for their public relations or product "image?" Does the corporation have any "problems" that they hope this ad will solve?