Ready for action?
Resources
Web links
Downloadable Resources
Tangible Resources
computers with internet for research
Preparation
Prepare paperwork for off-site visit if necessary; let local businesses know students will come in groups to find products and packaging.
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- Raise awareness about advertising and marketing designed to persuade you to buy products.
- To understand that all products and adverts are designed by people, and with an intentional outcome in mind. This means you can do it yourself and have a positive influence on this.
- To continue to prepare for a meeting with a dietician.
Specific messages
- Information can be misleading if you don’t know how to interpret it.
- There are ways you can do research and educate yourself about information you might not understand at first.
Main terms
- health
- advertising and marketing
- target audience
- influencing
- citizenship
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Asking questions and defining problems
- Planning and carrying out investigations
Soft skills
- Empathy
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
- Use of resources
Course of activity
step 1
Students will discuss what their favourite snacks are and why using this framework:
- What is your favourite snack and why?
- Do you know what ingredients are in your snack?
- Is it healthy? Does it make you feel good? How or why?
- What makes you buy this snack? Is it the taste? The look? The price?
- How do you think others feel about your snack and would you recommend this snack to others?
- If you were a parent, would you let your children eat this snack?
- What is it that makes this snack attractive for you?
- Is your snack advertised somewhere? (commercials, billboard or other signs, social media)
- Do you know who invented, designed and made your snack?
- Do you know how your snack is produced?
step 2
Working in groups, students will visit a local supermarket/shop to collect food products in packaging which they consider to be appealing.
step 3
They will bring the products back to the classroom and display them together.
step 4
Next, they will discuss what attracted them to the packaging:
- What product did you choose?
- Why did you choose this product/packaging?
- Were there similar products available in different packaging?
- What is it that attracts you to this packaging?
- Why do you think this appeals to you?
- Who do you think the target audience is for this product?
- Is the packaging successful in appealing to this audience?
step 5
Packaging has a powerful influence on consumer behaviour. An estimated one-third of all consumers’ decision-making is based on packaging and is often the deciding factor for someone making a purchase. Health claims on packaging influence perceptions, even when there is no link to actual nutritional quality. Students will research how health claims on packaging can be misleading, by investigating four distinct types of claim:
- Adding positives: examples such as high calcium, probiotics, high vitamins, high protein
- Removing negatives: examples as gluten-free, low salt, light
- Not adding negatives: examples as no added sugars, no artificial flavour, no preservatives, no pesticides
- Not removing positives: examples as all natural, homemade, pure, fresh
step 6
On a product label, the Nutritional Facts label lists nutrition such as total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, dietary fibre, sugars, added sugars, protein, vitamins, calcium, iron, and potassium. This is stated per 100 grams or 100 millilitres, so that products can be compared properly. Students will research the Nutritional Facts and determine if the claims made on the front of the packaging correspond with actual facts.
step 7
They will then share their findings in a plenary and discuss how truthful they feel the packaging designs actually are.
step 8
Students will identify the gaps in their knowledge regarding nutrition, and prepare questions for meeting with a dietician in the next Learning Unit.