A wonderful English teacher (soon to be librarian) at my school, Mrs. Clark, is combining Greek gods and advertising techniques for a final project. Essentially, the gods will be shilling for various products related to their divine powers. I made up some sample ads for her using Garageband and Comic Life (the kids don’t have it but we make do with Word). The samples, which are based on student work in previous years, are below if you can find a use for them.
Oddly, I did something similar when I taught. The focus was on advertising the gods though and the students were the ad executives. The kids got this intro-
The gods on Mount Olympus are a conceited bunch. They have each hired an advertising executive (that’s you) to create a full-page newspaper ad to publicize their talents and abilities. The gods are also a vengeful bunch. If you don’t make your god appear to be the most exciting and intriguing god of all, you might end up in Hades or pushing a stone up a hill for eternity. However, if you do a good job, you could end up vacationing on Mount Olympus and having ambrosia for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It went well and they liked it. It’d be a fun project to do now with the options GarageBand and iWeb give you.
Anyway on to the examples——
An ad for Aphrodite Bath Oil– I was going for a Barry White sound but I’m not sure I made it. This is simple audio done in GarageBand.
A comic style ad for Hermes shoes.
The letter from the god to my students (they were mail merged with the student info and god name). I did this a while ago. I’d open it up now and not restrain it to a newspaper ad but my excuse is this was about 3 years ago.
Dear «student»,
I have been getting some bad press lately. I am counting on you to do something about it! I have heard about your incredible creativity, intelligence, and work ethic, and I want to put these skills to work for me. I will pay you handsomely if you succeed!
I need a full page advertisement to run in every major newspaper in Greece. I want you to make me look like a star. Here is a list of everything I need you to include in my ad:
1. My picture—make sure I look good!
2. My Greek and Roman names (so that even the people in Rome, Italy, recognize me!)
3. My title—include that I am the god of ___________________.
4. My family members—family values really appeal to the public
5. Any symbols or places that are connected to me
«student», please don’t let me down! I’m counting on you.
Sincerely,«god»
Oh man, that’s perfect. Forget that fact that I LOVE Greek Mythology (almost minored in Latin & Greek in college), the angle of having them sell their own products is perfect. It’s probably exactly what street vendors and merchants did back then too, trying to convince dubious villagers that Zues himself had blessed his or her wares 🙂
I absolutely love this assignment. My students have been searching marketing tools and advertising techniques that use gods/goddesses and their symbols.
This is an assigment I may use for the fall.
Thanks.
-From Houston, Texas
AWESOME!