Does marketing work? How many products or brands can you identify just by seeing their logos or hearing their jingles? Take for example the now famous Nike “swoosh.” All people have to do is see the swoosh, and they know whose product is being peddled. How many men can identify the Monday Night Football brand just by hearing the first four notes of the theme song? Marketing is so effective that research now shows “kids can recognize logos by eighteen months, and before reaching their second birthday, they’re asking for products for brand name.” No doubt – advertising works.
Why not make your commercial viewing experience productive for you and your kids? Use it as an opportunity to teach how to apply their faith to the glut of marketing messages they face each and every day, by helping them think critically and Christianly about the commercials they encounter.
Download this free handout to get started!
Here’s an additional suggestion just for all you youthworkers: Build next week’s youth group meeting around commercials and advertising. Divide up into groups. Give each group one ad to process through “The Simple Seven” and the additional ad filtering questions. Come back together and have each group report on what they learned. It’s a great way to get them to think consciously and critically about marketing, and to get them to see how God’s Word applies to all of life!