Think about this the next time you witness a parent and child battling over a box of cereal in the check-out line: that howling child has been exposed to more than 20,000 commercials in the last year. A frightening thought perhaps, but also an incredible opportunity for learning.
This was Forest Hills resident Christy Morrow’s thought when she developed the “What’s Your Favorite Ad and Why?” contest nearly one year ago. Christy is the director of community relations for the Dallas/Fort Worth American Marketing Association. Her campaign was a writing, drawing, and creative response program for all fifth grade students in Dallas Public Schools.
“The campaign was developed to help facilitate dialogue between students, teachers, and parents about the persuasive nature of advertising,” says Christy. The “Favorite Ad” campaign was designed to give students an opportunity to talk about goods and services that make an impact on their lives. It encouraged children to see themselves in new roles – consumer, decision maker, and someone whose opinion is valued. Says Christy of the contest, “This is an ideal classroom tool to help foster critical thinking. Critical thinking and an ability to make informed decisions is essential in this day and age, especially when youngsters are aggressively targeted with thousands of advertising messages. Children with an ability to think through and analyze advertisements can transfer these skills to other life situations.”
Participating students were asked to complete a flyer in which they wrote about their favorite ad – what the ad was about, where they had seen the ad, and why they liked it. Of 1100 entries received, 26 finalists were chosen and invited to a special awards ceremony held April 20 at the Hard Rock Cafe. Six of the finalists were from the East Dallas area. They are: Kevin Zercher, Ben Jonson and Alison Ortiz from Victor Hexter Elementary; Laura Tovar and Stevan Chavez from the Cesar Chavez Learning Center; and Valerie Lynn Perez from Reinhardt Elementary. All 26 finalists were treated to a one-day internship at DDB Needham, one of the top advertising agencies in the world. The students were taught how to make an ad, and toured a production house. In addition, they were presented with a medal and a backpack filled with prizes.
During the award ceremony, a team of industry judges (Advocate publisher Rich Wamre was one) evaluated the finalist’s drawings and descriptions of their favorite ads. Kelli Rasberry of KISS-FM emceed the awards ceremony, where Victor Hexter Elementary student Ben Jonson was awarded the Grand Prize, a new computer, for his entry on an Altoids magazine ad. “The Altoids ad stood out to me because I liked the contrast of the colors,” says the fifth-grader. “And, I thought it (the ad) was funny.”
The ad Ben chose features a young boy with his tongue stuck to an Altoids can with the caption “curiously strong” written below. Ben’s teacher, Carol Lammers, thought that he had a good chance at the Grand Prize. “For one thing,” says Carol, “Ben is an excellent writer. And, he picked such an unusual ad that I thought his entry would really stand out.” Carol found the “Favorite Ad” campaign to be a valuable classroom exercise for all her students. “The project combined art, reading, and writing skills,” says Carol. Perhaps most importantly, it introduced many of the students to a possible career path they had not previously considered. Ben says he would definitely consider a future in advertising. “I never knew about how fun it would be” he says. “It’s a job where there are no boundaries and you can be very creative.”
Ben, who did not own a computer before winning this one through the contest, is already putting his prize to good use. Is he designing the socially conscious, politically correct, and yet humorous ads of tomorrow? “Right now I’m using the computer mostly for games,” says Ben. “I just got a new baseball game that I really like!” Clearly, while this experience may someday lead Ben to design our favorite Super Bowl commercial, for now he’s still a kid.
