Objective: Students will critically analyze and compare the campaign advertisements of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, focusing on differences in target groups, messaging strategies, and the use of media techniques to influence voters.
Essential Questions
- How do political campaigns use advertisements to target specific demographics?
- What role does emotional appeal play in political advertising?
- How can media literacy skills help voters critically evaluate campaign messages?
Lesson Activities
1. Introduction and Activation
- Begin with a quick write: “How have political ads influenced your perception of candidates?”
- Discuss responses and introduce the concept of media literacy in political advertising.
2. Advertisement Viewing and Initial Reactions
- Watch selected Trump and Harris campaign ads.
- After each ad, have students jot down immediate reactions and observations.
3. Analytical Framework Introduction
- Introduce the OPTIC strategy for visual analysis:
- Overview: What’s the big picture?
- Parts: Zoom in on details
- Title: How does the title or text contribute?
- Interrelationships: How do the parts relate?
- Conclusion: What’s the main idea?
The OPTIC strategy systematically analyzes visual media, such as images, advertisements, or political cartoons. It’s particularly useful in educational settings to help students develop critical thinking skills when interpreting visual information. OPTIC is an acronym that stands for:
- O – Overview • What’s the big picture? • What’s your first impression of the image?
- P – Parts • Focus on specific parts or details of the image. • What elements or objects do you see?
- T – Title • What’s the title or caption (if any)? • How does the text contribute to or influence your understanding of the image?
- I – Interrelationships • How do the parts of the image relate to each other? • What connections can you make between different elements?
- C – Conclusion • What’s the main idea or message of the image? • What’s the creator’s purpose?
Watch Kamala Harris’ ad targeting Black voters by associating Trump with “Project 2025”
Small Group Analysis
- Divide students into groups and assign each an ad to analyze using the OPTIC framework.
- Additional questions to consider:
- Who is the target audience? What evidence supports this?
- What are the key messages? How are they conveyed?
- What emotional responses does the ad aim to evoke? How?
- How do production elements (visuals, music, narration) contribute to the message?
5. Jigsaw Discussion
- Regroup students so each new group has members who analyze different ads.
- Students share their analyses and discuss similarities and differences between the ads.
6. Fact-Checking Exercise
- Introduce reliable fact-checking resources.
- Groups fact-check claims made in the ads they analyzed.
- Discuss the importance of verifying information in political messaging.
7. Class Discussion and Synthesis
- Reconvene as a class to discuss findings and insights.
- Create a comparison chart highlighting critical differences in targeting and messaging strategies.
- Discuss potential impacts on voter perceptions and behavior.
8. Reflection and Application
- Individual reflection: “How has this analysis changed your viewing of political ads?”
- Introduce the extension activity (see below).
Extension Activities
- Create Your Ad: Students design a mock political ad targeting a specific demographic, applying techniques discussed in class.
- Media Literacy Campaign: Develop a social media campaign to educate peers about critical ad analysis.
- Historical Ad Analysis: Compare current ads to historical political advertisements, analyzing strategy changes.