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Introduction:

<div>Do you know if it is true that you will get a nicer smile and stronger teeth when you use Colgate? Who says so &ndash; and do you trust them? Have you ever considered whether it is true that you &ldquo;Get the taste of the real 
life&rdquo; when you drink a Coca Cola? The advertisements say so &ndash; but why should it be true? And: What is a&ldquo;Nicer smile&rdquo; and what is &ldquo;The taste of the real life&rdquo; &#8208; anyway? It is all over &#8208; in the television, in the radio, on the streets, in the newspaper and on the internet &ndash; practically everywhere we meet advertisements for 
products that the producers that want to sell to us for the highest price. All companies spell it out for us &ndash; the consumers &#8208; wherever we are, and we remember the slogans and adverts; even those of us who claim that we are not influenced by advertisements, we also remember them. Does it matter if it is correct what the adverts inform? How is it possible that there are products known world&#8208;wide even though people could easily manage without them? Coca Cola, McDonald, Palmolive just to mention a few. Majority of these products are not at all essential in the daily life of people, who could easily do with a locally produced soft drink, a locally produced hamburger and a locally produced bar of soap. Many big companies have employed scientists and psychologists to work for their company. The scientists convincingly inform the customers &#8208; through persuading statements, that the products are healthy and everybody needs them. McDonald adverts inform &ldquo;I am loving it&rdquo;; Many people would say &ldquo;It tastes ok&rdquo;. But the fact is that McDonald food is unhealthy. 
 
The companies have hired dentists, nutrition experts and other scientific experts who are informing us that we must brush our teeth with Colgate, wash our hair with Lux Shampoo and afterwards drink a Coca Cola to have the real taste. The multinational company Unilever say about the Lux soap bar and 
themselves: (Quote) &ldquo;Every day millions of people like you trust our products to care for themselves and the ones they love&rdquo;. Let us now consider this: Lux soap bars are sold all over the world to millions of 
people, and somehow these millions of people trust the soap products &ndash; otherwise they would not buy them &ndash; or do you think they buy the soap bars because the advertisements have told them that millions of people already do buy the products? What do you think comes first &ndash; the persuading advertisement or the many 
buyers? The run for the biggest profit makes the companies try many ways to do the bargain. Tobacco has been sold for many years and big tobacco companies have earned millions of dollars. They have earned so much money that they are capable of paying the fines and compensations which the High Court in the US 
sentenced them to pay after being sued by people who suffered from lung cancer, and families to people who died because of smoking. In this course you will study examples of advertisements where scientists have guaranteed that the products are safe and sound. You will take a closer look at advertisements &ndash; and you will get a better understanding of why you have been ensnarled into trusting that adverts tell the truth. 
We will see when adverts draw your attention to something interesting and important &ndash; and when they are there only to sell some products for the highest price they can get.</div>

<div> 
Enjoy the course and watch out for the adverts!</div>

Directive:

NB: The teacher ought throughout the course to be the person with a critical approach to the meaning of being reliable and trustworthy 
 
1st part 60 minutes &#8208; The effects of advertising 
 
The aim is that the students will improve their understanding about the different effects that are used in adverts, and how adverts are able to persuade the consumers into buying the products. 
 
1. The teacher reads the introduction to the course, and discuss with the students: 
Why are you attracted to special products? What effects do the adverts use to draw your attention and attract you to the products?
<ul>
	<li>Some advertisements from 1940s and 1950s tell why you should smoke,see the file (found at www.chickenhead.com/truth/1940s/1950s). Discuss with the students: How could these advertisements persuade people at that time to smoke &ndash; can they do the same today?</li>
	<li>&nbsp;The teacher goes through one of the adverts and gives examples on how the cigarette advertisement tries to convince the consumer that it is sexy, smart, intelligent, creative and attractive to smoke.</li>
	<li>&nbsp;The students find more adverbs describing why people were attracted to smoking.</li>
	<li>The teacher gives the examples of advertisements where breast feeding women have been convinced to use formula milk powder instead of breast feeding their babies. Many babies have died because the milk powder was diluted with contaminated water. 20 min</li>
</ul>
 
2. The students define 30 words to describe why the advertisements have an impact on the consumer. Use the adverts from the file. Helping questions: How is the picture used? Are the persons shown attractive? 
Does the text tell about the excitement about smoking? Why do you think so many people got convinced that it was nice and smart to smoke? 20 min 
 
3. The teacher goes through all the answers and writes the characteristics on the blackboard. In this way the students are introduced to the understanding of why we trust the advertisements. 20 min 
 
 
2nd part 75 minutes &#8208; Can we trust the advertisements? 
 
The aim is that the students consider if they trust what they are told in the advertisements. How can we get knowledge about the products? How do we decide what to buy and what not to buy? 
 
4. The teacher goes through the Palmolive websites with a critical approach, 
meaning he should consider the following things:
<ul>
	<li>Are the people at the advertisements representatives for average people?</li>
	<li>Are the people good looking, well dressed, happy family&#8208;like&hellip;?</li>
	<li>Does the advertisement tell the customer why this product is healthy and needed?</li>
	<li>In which ways does the consumer get knowledge about the product? Or is the consumer only told, that he or she will have a nice day when eating Kellogg&rsquo;s and using the Lux soap bar? 15 min</li>
</ul>
5. The students work in trio on the following things:

<ul>
	<li>The students find and analyze two advertisements on the internet or choose other advertisements they would like to study.</li>
	<li>The students write down 30 or more characteristic words describing in which ways the advertisements try to persuade the consumer to trust what he or she is being told.&nbsp;30 min</li>
</ul>
6. As a conclusion :

<ul>
	<li>The students present the opinion in their micro groups about the headline of the course &ldquo;Trust us &ndash; we are the Experts&rdquo;.</li>
	<li>The teacher leads the common discussion: Are we now more certain whether we can trust advertisements or not? 30 min</li>
</ul>

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