Youth Club Activities: Media and Popular Culture
Vanessa Rogers
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Vanessa Rogers suggests five activity ideas to get young people discussing the influence of the media on their lives.
Media Watch
Aim This is a warm-up activity to introduce the different forms of media young people use to obtain information and their effectiveness.
You will need
- Flipchart paper and markers
How to do it Divide the young people into two teams and hand each a sheet of flipchart paper and markers. Allow two minutes for each group to write down as many forms of media as they can recall.
Call time and invite each team to share their ideas. Now read out a list of things that young people might want to find out, asking them to place a tick by the form of media that they would be most likely to use to find out the information. You can add to these to reflect group interests.
Media List
Examples of media you could add include: football results, celebrity news, fashion, festival information, gig guides, travel, drug and alcohol information, local news, national news, contraception advice, weather, TV guides, home shopping, sports news, politics and campaigns, and local services.
Start a group discussion that considers the most popular forms of media used by the group. Ask questions such as how reliable are they and do they ever show bias?
Advertising - Facts and Opinions
Aim This exercise considers the use of facts and opinions in advertisements and the influences they have on consumer behaviour.
You will need
- Markers
- A selection of magazines
How to do it Explain that some of the information in advertisements is fact and some is opinion. Point out that advertisers are strictly regulated by law to make sure that they are honest. Suggest that a fact is a statement that has been proven to be true. An opinion is a statement based on a belief or value.
Divide the young people into small groups and distribute magazines and marker pens to each group.
The task is for each group to research the magazines and determine which phrases in the adverts are facts about the product, and which are opinions. They should circle facts with one colour and opinions with another.
Ask each group to present the facts and opinions they found. Have a discussion that considers the following: Which occurred more frequently, facts or opinions? Which are most useful to consumers, facts or opinions? Which do you think make consumers more likely to buy? Are there some people whose opinion would make you more or less likely to buy a product? Why? (consider celebrity endorsement).
Reality TV Review
Aim This activity opens up discussion about the ethics of reality TV and the motivation for people to take part in it.
You will need- Copies of the Reality TV Review sheets
- Pens
How to do it Start by making sure that everyone has a common understanding of reality TV and ask the young people to call out some of the programmes that they have watched.
Reality television is a genre of television programming that purportedly presents unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors.
Hand out a Reality TV Review sheet and a pen to each young person. If you know you have young people who struggle with reading and writing, do the activity in pairs. Stress that it is a personal opinion that you want and there is no right or wrong answer.
Allow a few minutes for everyone to complete the task and then go through the responses. Use the space between each statement to ask questions and challenge decisions. Start a discussion that considers: Why people volunteer for reality TV shows? Is it ethical to be watching people embarrass/argue/become romantically involved with each other as entertainment?
Point out that many people who take part in the shows do not make any real money or develop lasting celebrity, fame or a career afterwards.
Three Good Reasons
Aim This activity encourages young people to reflect on their personal values and the reasons for and against taking part in a reality TV show.
You will need
- Two A4 sheets marked "would" and "wouldn't"
- Pens
- Sticky notes
How to do it Start by asking young people to call out the names of reality TV shows that they have watched, regardless of whether they like or dislike them.
Stick up the "would" and "wouldn't" flipchart sheets on either side of the room and hand out six sticky notes and a pen to each member of the group.
Ask each person to think about the reality shows they have watched and then give three reasons why they would take part in a similar project, and three reasons why they would not. These can then be written onto the sticky notes and placed on the appropriate sheet.
As a group, review the sheets pulling out the main arguments for and against taking part in reality TV shows.
Celebrities and Image
Aim This activity raises awareness of the media's role in defining attractiveness and how media images can affect personal attitudes about smoking
You will need
- Pictures of a range of celebrities
- Online access to research celebrities who smoke
How to do it Prepare sets of pictures of celebrities popular with young people, some who smoke and some who don't.
Try to include those with "clean" public images and those more famous for their "bad" behaviour. Make sure that none are pictured with a cigarette or cigar.
Divide the young people into small groups and hand each group a set of pictures. The young people should decide which celebrities they think are smokers and which aren't, based on how they look. Play this as a game and award each team a point for every correct answer.
As you go through the answers, ask young people to explain why they chose certain celebrities and not others. Are their answers based on whether they have already seen a picture of the celebrity smoking, or are they based on what they think a smoker looks like?
Next, ask the young people to go through the pile of smokers and define some of the things for which they are famous. For example, this could be their youthful looks or cool image, as well as actual achievements. Ask the young people to consider how much they think celebrities and celebrity culture influences people and their decisions.
Conclude that the media clearly promotes what is deemed attractive and ordinary people often measure their own attractiveness against it.
Ask the young people to name some of the detrimental effects that smoking can have on physical appearances and note down suggestions.
Most celebrities seem to want to stay as youthful looking as possible; yet smoking is proven to cause skin aging.
Suggest to the young people that the media does not show this less attractive side of smoking in their eagerness to show celebrities as perfect. However, if they really wanted to encourage young people not to smoke they could influence choices by showing stars who do smoke with "smoking lines" around their mouth or nicotine-stained fingers.
Vanessa Rogers is a youth work trainer, consultant and author. Her books are available from www.nya.org.uk, or Jessica Kingsley Publishers, www.jkp.com. For training and consultancy, go to www.vanessarogers.co.uk