9.2.5 assess, critically, the relationship between consumerism and quality of life in Canada and

the United States by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:

What are the indicators of quality of life? (PADM, ER)
How does individual consumer behaviour impact quality of life (e.g., environmental issues)?

How does marketing impact consumerism?

Activity 1

How many ads do you think we see per day?  The link below to the Media Awareness Website estimates that we see 3000 ads per day. 
 

Make a list of all the places that you see advertising.  Be prepared to share these with a partner or the class.

Critical Thinking Questions
Do you think it is possible to go a whole day without seeing advertising?
Where shouldn`t advertising be located?
Where don`t we see advertising?

Bob Garfield talks about advertising as ``environment pollutants.``  Others think there may be a backlash to this.  What do you think consumers might do that would be considered a backlash?
Why do you think they will do it?
 

Supporting Link

Media Awareness Network

Activity 2

Go to Don`t Buy It at http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/
 
Click on Advertising Tricks.  
What tricks are used in food advertising

What tricks were used in the Pepsi, Levi`s and Philip-Morris commercials in the What`s in an ad section

Be the ad detective and identify the different types of marketing and advertising that are used.  

Click on Buying Smart
What tricks are used in tv or radio commercials
Can you identify the products that were hot or snot

How accurate are you in The cost of cool

Click on Your Entertainment
What kinds of things do they do to cover models
How accurate are you in the tv vs life quiz

Answer the ``are you plugged in`` questions.  At the bottom of the results, click on the blue link that tells you what the numbers really mean.

Extension Activity

What does http://www.featurethis.com/main.html do?  How might some find this problematic?