In this lesson students identify how we associate social status with designer and brand name products, and how we believe others perceive us by what we wear.

Learning Outcomes:

Students demonstrate:

• an understanding of the links between status, consumption and advertising
• an awareness of our own feelings and perceptions regarding what advertisers tell us we 'must have'

Preparation and Materials

• paper, markers and scissors
• magazines

The Lesson

Activity

Tell students they can work alone or in partners (each partner has to do their own work, but they might want to talk to each other about what they are writing). Each student needs a piece of paper to divide into four parts.

• In the first section, they will write down or draw a picture of one item of designer/brand name clothes or a designer/brand name accessory they own or would like to own. If you have extra time and some magazines and scissors, have them cut an item out of a magazine.
  
• In the second section, they will describe some positive things people might assume about them if they had or wore that particular thing.
  
• In the third section, they will describe some negative things people might assume about them if they had or wore that particular thing.
  
• In the fourth section they will write why they think other people might think some of the things they stated in sections 2 and 3 of their page. Their pages will look like this (you can draw this on the board or make an overhead of it).

1. Brand name thing I own or would like to own:	2. Positive things people might assume about me if I had it or wore it:
3. Negative things people might assume about me if I had it/ wore it:	4. How I know/why I think people would assume these things about me:

• Ask some people to share the name of the product they chose with the class.

Questions for discussion:

• Were many of the answers similar? What was similar about them?
  
• Even if the products mentioned were different, were the responses in sections 2, 3, and 4 similar?
  
• If you have seen any of the items people mentioned advertised, where did you see them? Were they trying to market to teens?
  
• How many of the things people mentioned are easily recognizable brand names?
  
• How can other people tell what brand it is? Is the name prominently displayed?
  
• Does the prominence of the brand name say anything about the person wearing it?
  
• Why do you think teens like brand names so much?
  
• Other than buying and wearing products, what can we do to improve people's perceptions of us?

Key Point: Companies want us to base our identities on their products. Teenagers (like everyone else) need to feel like they are accepted, and advertisers make them feel like they would be if they wore the right clothes or owned the right stuff.

Class Challenge: Tell students that tomorrow is "no logo" day. The challenge is for each student to come to school in clothing that has no identifiable brand labels or logos. When students come to class next day, see who has the fewest logos showing.

• In their media journals have students reflect on how easy or difficult this was for them to do, and how they felt about dressing in this manner.
• How did their friends react when they found out students were doing this?