ASSINIBOIA - “I love the fact that we get to expose students to real life.” Laurie Hawkins, teacher at Assiniboia Elementary School, is referring to a project first called ‘Kidvertising’.
The students in her Grade 7/8 class each create two ads to promote a business of their choice from a list, and then submit them to the Assiniboia Times.
“Working with the paper teaches the students that there are strict deadlines,” said Laurie. “Just like in real life, the students have to create the ads and submit them on a deadline. They are experiencing real world responsibility.”
Two students describe their art project. Vadin Oncescu said, “the purpose of the project is to support local business and promote what Assiniboia has to offer.”
“My ad is supporting the Jolly Giant in Willow Bunch. Willow Bunch is really small so Jolly Giant advertises to get more people, especially if the ad has something fun or new,” added Ava Bellefleur.
Vadin talks about marketing techniques. “We have to follow certain colour schemes for each ad, and sometimes big bold letters that pop out and catch the audience attention. My ad is for Century 21, so I shouldn’t put irrelevant pictures, like food and stuff.”
Ava knows that businesses need to be careful about the content in their ad. “They should be family friendly, otherwise, I might not want to go there.”
She adds that people should all be treated equally in ads. “Everybody should have equality of speech, and they should not be treated different because of their culture.”
Vadin agrees that businesses should all have freedom of speech. “Ads can’t show all the options of a business, it is intended to show a brief thing, like just a relevant photo about their company. If people don’t like the ad, they can either ignore it or go online to check out the other products they might sell.”
Ava added that ads do not tell the whole story. “They are really just there to show the name of the business, and get people in the door. They should also read the small print at the bottom where it shows other options for sale.”
“I have a lot of artistic students this year,” said teacher, Laurie. “This project is an opportunity for them to showcase their talent, but I gear the project more towards practical and applied arts like advertising and marketing. We looked at and analyzed what makes a good ad such as design, layout, and colour.”
“When a company has a certain colour, everything in that ad is related to that colour. It’s intentional. Nothing in an ad is accidental,” added Laurie.
“They also learned that in media, more isn’t always better. White space is okay and creates impact.”
Laurie is thankful that the Assiniboia Times approached her with this project in 2020. “It’s given the students an opportunity to read the newspaper. Many of them have never looked at it before. But the deeper purpose of it was to connect the school and community, and it even has the potential to open doors for our students to future jobs and careers. It looks like this might become be an annual event.”
