Lesson: How the Internet Is Changing Advertising

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out-loud.

1. Do you buy products because of advertising?
2. What forms of advertising are there?
3. In your opinion, what is the best form of advertising?
4. When you watch TV, how much attention do you pay to the advertisements?
5. Do you think there are too many ads in television? Why/why not?
6. What are some effective ads you have seen lately? (on TV, newspaper, etc)
7. What are some ineffective adverts you have seen lately?
8. Do you think ads influence the choices people make when buying stuff?
9. Think of an ad you think is good or funny and talk or write about it.
10. What are the harmful and the beneficial effects of advertising?

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

• d | t - overtime
• d | t - complex
• d | t - picture
• d | t - discovery
• d | t - struggle
• d | t - strip
• d | t - realize
• d | t - image
• d | t - along
• d | t - search
• d | t - observer
• d | t - share
• d | t - demand
• d | t - enlighten
• d | t - way
• d | t - cause
• d | t - compelled
• d | t - epiphany

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

Transcript:

Since the dawn of humanity we have used tools to communicate. Overtime these tools are becoming more complex, like in 2700 B.C. when the Egyptians started using pictures to represent sounds. This later came to be known as the alphabet. Every time a new discovery is made it changes the way that we live but there is always some people who struggle to adapt. Like when radios, “look here is the new band aid plastic strip with new super-stick” were replaced by television, “look here is the new band aid plastic strip with new super-stick”. At first we didn’t realize TV’s potential but one day it dawned on us. TV is a new kind of communication one driven by images and the use of images changed everything. Then along came this thing called the internet, at first was just email and banner adds, but then it developed to something much bigger. Just think about it. We use to come home to watch TV, but now we watch TV on the internet. And not just that we search on the internet, we read blogs on the internet, we upload pictures to the internet, we update our status on the internet, we share our lives and experiences on the internet with the world. We’re not on the internet as passive observers, we are on the internet to have a shared experience. So why do we keep using outdated tools designed for TV to reach interactive audience on the internet? If history has taught us anything this new technology demands a new way to communicate. What could this look like? Well let’s say you have a brilliant idea and instead of creating an image based video designed for TV, you create a video designed for this new technology. A video that creates a shared experience, a video that educates and enlightens. And this part is key. You see, you can put your video online and few people will find it. But let’s say your video helps someone discovers something important. Let’s say your video helps someone sees something differently. Why is this significant? Well, let’s take a look. When something like a video helps us think differently, we change. Sometimes in small ways like deciding to use a new web application. Sometimes in big ways, like discovering a new cause that gives us purpose in our lives. But every time this switch happens we feel compelled to pass this experience on to others. And the internet is designed to share experiences * to get shared it helps other people create epiphanies who * share it who * epiphanies. We’ll learn that this new way to communicate taps in to be shared epiphanies. There is an emerging style of video made to be viral, it helps you to discover new things, it creates an experience and a paradigm shift together, in a word it creates an epiphany. Epiphany. People seek out, remember, share new epiphanies. So why not create a video that has an epiphany that can be shared for what we call epipheo. Epipheo. So you can keep trying to use yesterday’s methods or you can use a tool built for the internet, a tool designed to be discovered and shared. What’s the untold epiphany that inspires your project? Because epipheos, just like the one you’re watching right now, brings your message to life each time in a lost new mind.

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs ---->>>> instructions <<<<-----. Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.