Presentation: We are constantly bombarded with messages from the advertising world. Some of the products marketed are useful, some are frivolous and some are down right dangerous: tobacco products, for instance. It is no surprise that the ad agencies that market tobacco must invest great amounts of money and effort to make their deadly products seem desirable. They must craft very convincing ads or the tobacco companies would quickly go out of business.

It's not easy to get people to pay for poison but maybe you can figure out how it's done. How would you try to market the following poisons? Create an ad that markets one of the poisons from the left column using an approach from the right column. Here is an example of an ad created for this activity.

Wrap up: Ask the class if any one knows why smoking is so dangerous. When they mention the harmful effects of tobacco smoke, ask them if that is all that is dangerous about cigarettes. Let them think for a little while then present these facts.

Note: Content created by students as part of this program may be submitted to us for inclusion in our next version of the CD ROM game. Winning ads will be included on the CD ROM and credit given to the artist, the artists' class and school. Each winner will also receive a complementary copy of the CD ROM for his/her portfolio. Contact us for details.