Superbowl Ads

Working on inferring with your students? How about figurative language?  We all know that ads are chock full of clever ways to get us to buy things.  And what better time of year than now to talk about ads with your students?  The Superbowl is the ultimate commercial experience, right? I mean, as long as you screen out all the inappropriate ads.  Here's some of my favorites that I've been working on with my students (some of these were leaked last week, so my middle schoolers got an ad preview!)



Oreo Whisper Fight: 

Mercedes "Soul"

My students loved figuring out who the "evil" character was, and were eager to share the clues they used to figure it out (yikes, those nails!).  They also felt really proud when they could state why the main character turned down the deal with devil.

Tide "Miracle Stain"
The great twist at the end makes it a funny commercial that my students really like.  Also a great commercial to talk about superstitions/signs.

Milk Mustache Campaign:
My students that knew "The Rock" did better with this than those that didn't, but it was a good chance to talk about how your previous knowledge can influence an inference (say that 10 times fast!). 

Toyota "Wishes"
 Understanding the idiom "spare tire" is essential in this commercial, and it was a great chance to see if my students could pick up the context clues to gather the meaning. 

Hyundai Team
As you can imagine, this really resonated with my middle schoolers.  Great ad to talk about exaggeration, and what they are really implying about the space in the vehicle. 

Sketchers Cheetah
Another good one for exaggeration, and determining what the advertisers are trying to say about the shoes.















Obviously, there are more ads out there, but these were just some of the highlights from last night.  If your try it with your older students, I'd love to hear how it goes!