Below is a brief bit of context that sets up one particular scene I like to use from Mad Men.
Context
Mad Men is a 2007 TV drama set in 1960. It focuses on an advertising agency called Stirling-Cooper where a Creative Director, Don Draper, must come up with creative ideas to help companies sell their products. Companies decide whether they will hire Stirling-Cooper based on how good Don's ideas are. The show can be confronting for modern audiences because it honestly depicts the attitudes of the time (sexism, cigarette smoking, racism); allowing the audience to see how different the 1960s were to 2007. In this clip, Stirling-Cooper is dealing with a Jewish client for the first time.
Show students the questions below first and then let the clip play through a couple of times so they can watch for the answers. I find that students are much more willing to focus if they know what they're looking for so there's little use in just showing the clip without any of the context above or letting them know the purpose behind it.
The questions focus on comprehension and explanation, and scaffold students towards a point where they will be asked to discuss the concept of a target audience. They are (and I'm sure you could probably add a few of your own):
- What is the agency's plan to boost awareness for Menken's Store?
- Why is Miss Menken against the idea of coupons?
- What has prompted Miss Menken to seek a new image for her store?
- What kind of target audience is Miss Menken after?
- Why does she say "the customer is always right?"
- Give an example of sexism or anti-Semitism (discrimination against Jewish people) from this clip.
- Find one example of sarcasm in the clip and explain its purpose.
After the students have thought it through (and formulated some responses) you can then discuss some possible answers:
Potential Answers
1. The agency plans to boost awareness of Menken's through the use of coupons and a TV spot designed to increase their exposure.
2. Miss Menken is against coupons because of the connotations associated with them, IE. That they appeal to people trying to save money, whereas Miss Menken wants to appeal to a more affluent / well-off demographic.
3. Miss Menken's father previously ran the business, however, last year they reported their lowest sales so now she is seeking to revitalise the brand and find new customers.
4. Miss Menken wants a rich, upper class audience for her product, and gives an example of the sort of brand she wants her store to be compared to.
5. The phrase 'the customer is always right' is delivered by Miss Menken to remind Don Draper and his colleagues that she is currently his customer and that he should be listening to her ideas.
6. The reference to 'the village' is an allusion to Jewish people stereotypically living in a more 'backward' or primitive fashion. The phrase 'Your people' is also a reference to Miss Menken's Jewishness. Draper and co. also mention Miss Menken's father, alluding to their preference to work with him rather than her, which demonstrates sexism.
7. Miss Menken is being sarcastic when she says "this place runs on charm", as she obviously believes the opposite.
1. The agency plans to boost awareness of Menken's through the use of coupons and a TV spot designed to increase their exposure.
2. Miss Menken is against coupons because of the connotations associated with them, IE. That they appeal to people trying to save money, whereas Miss Menken wants to appeal to a more affluent / well-off demographic.
3. Miss Menken's father previously ran the business, however, last year they reported their lowest sales so now she is seeking to revitalise the brand and find new customers.
4. Miss Menken wants a rich, upper class audience for her product, and gives an example of the sort of brand she wants her store to be compared to.
5. The phrase 'the customer is always right' is delivered by Miss Menken to remind Don Draper and his colleagues that she is currently his customer and that he should be listening to her ideas.
6. The reference to 'the village' is an allusion to Jewish people stereotypically living in a more 'backward' or primitive fashion. The phrase 'Your people' is also a reference to Miss Menken's Jewishness. Draper and co. also mention Miss Menken's father, alluding to their preference to work with him rather than her, which demonstrates sexism.
7. Miss Menken is being sarcastic when she says "this place runs on charm", as she obviously believes the opposite.
 |
| Another example of sexism |
The rest of the lesson can then be spent on some paragraph writing practice, with a formula of your choice. If I'm working with a mixed ability class who have limited confidence about this sort of thing then I'll use a fairly open-ended question such as:
Write one paragraph outlining how you would aim to change the target audience for Menken's Store to suit Miss Menken's vision.
Students should aim to start their paragraph with a statement of some sort that re-frames the question so that an unsuspecting reader could follow the paragraph without having read the question. After this point the student is free to explain what their idea is, how they would go about implementing it and making it work, and then finishing up with a confident assessment of why their idea is the best option for Miss Menken.
Writing a paragraph in this way provides scope for students to just get some independent writing done (which can be a struggle at times), plus they can practise their command of rhetoric - which is pertinent in light of the overall topic's focus on persuasion and advocating for ideas.
Writing a paragraph in this way provides scope for students to just get some independent writing done (which can be a struggle at times), plus they can practise their command of rhetoric - which is pertinent in light of the overall topic's focus on persuasion and advocating for ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment