Title: HOW DO COMMERCIALS USE MUSIC TO INFLUENCE US TO BUY THEIR PRODUCT?

Type of Teaching Unit:  LESSON PLAN                                                                                        

Grade Level: 3^rd                                                                                    

Time Frame:  5 days                                                    

Subject matter:  Music

Teacher information:
Kathryn Gallagher
Harris Elementary School,
Madison IL
AAM affiliation: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
kgallagh@madison.k.12.il.us

Lesson Plan Description and Rationale:

Students will be viewing the “Hilltop Coke” commercial and discussing the effect the music and

visual would effect their decision to purchase the product. Students will be creating and videotaping

their own commercials in small groups.  Students will rate each others videos.

STATE STANDARDS:

#26B  Apply skills and knowledge necessary to create and perform in one or more of the arts.

#27A  Analyze how the arts function in history, society and everyday life.

NATIONAL STANDARDS:

#4   Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

#5   Reading and notating music.

#7   Evaluating music and music performances.

#9   Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

Objectives:

 Students will view the video for the Coke commercial “Hilltop” and will discuss its history and

success as a commercial and the history and success of the song, “I’d Like to Teach the World To Sing.”  

Students will work in small groups to create a logo for a soft drink product that they have created. 

They will then write a jingle with rap or melodic lyrics using a specified format.  Students will practice

their jingles and then perform them for the class.  A small group of students will be trained as a

production crew and they will videotape the performances.  After everyone has performed their

commercials the class will watch the videos and will critique them using a predetermined scale.

Methods: 

1.        Students will view “Hilltop” commercial.

2.        Students will answer questions about the video using worksheet for this lesson.

3.        Students will read a condensed history of the song and commercial from “The “Hilltop” ad: 

The story of a commercial” and will discuss the article.

4.        Students will be divided into groups of four.

5.        The groups will be given an empty plastic soda bottle with the original label removed and a piece of paper that fits the bottle.  Using colors, markers, colored pencils, and glue, students will be asked to create a logo for their own soft drink product. 

6.        Students will then be asked to write a melodic or non-melodic jingle for their product using a specified format.

7.        When they are finished writing they will be instructed to practice their jingle until they can perform it without error.

8.        A small group will be assigned to be the production crew and will receive instructions from the teacher for filming the videos.

9.        Groups will perform their jingles for the class while the production crew films their performances.

10.   Students will rate each group’s ‘commercial’ musically and visually. They will also rate the commercials as to how effect they are in selling their product, using a pre-determined format.

	Retumo, Giuseppe. “Hilltop.” 1971. Fifty Years of Coca-Cola Advertisements. [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cola:@field (DOCID+@lit(komt1600_01))] or [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ccmphtml/colahome.html] (February, 2004) (This link will take you to the home page for this collection.  Once there you will need to click on "Hilltop" to view the video.)
The "Hilltop" Ad: The Story of a Commercial	This article can be found in “Fifty Years of Coca-Cola Advertisements.” American Memory Collection. (see above citation) It can also be found in the “Coca- Cola Television Advertising Home Page." [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ccmphtml/colaadv.html] (February, 2004)

Methods: 

11.   Students will view “Hilltop” commercial.

12.   Students will answer questions about the video using worksheet for this lesson.

13.   Students will  hear a condensed history of the song and commercial from “The "Hilltop” ad: The story of a commercial” and will discuss the article. This history will be given by the teacher.

14.   Students will be divided into groups of four.

15.   The groups will be given an empty plastic soda bottle with the original label removed and a piece of paper that fits the bottle.  Using colors, markers, colored pencils, and glue, students will be asked to create a logo for their own soft drink product. 

16.   Students will then be asked to write a melodic or non-melodic jingle for their product using a specified format.

17.   When they are finished writing they will be instructed to practice their jingle until they can perform it without error.

18.   A small group will be assigned to be the production crew and will receive instructions from the teacher for filming the videos.

19.   Groups will perform their jingles for the class while the production crew films their performances.

20.   Students will rate each group’s ‘commercial’ musically and visually.  They will also rate the commercials as to how effect they are in selling their product, using a pre-determined format.

 Evaluation:

Students will be graded according to the commercial/video rubric.  Students will be rated as to the effectiveness of their commercial/video production by their fellow students using a pre-determined format.

Keywords for this lesson: 

Commercial, video, jingle, logo, visual, audio

Click on bottles to go to video worksheets

Click on oval to go to rubrics