A fun way to teach kids things is through films. I have always had a 16mm projector and plenty of films on hand. I know, I know, most people wouldn't even know how to use one. But, many of those fantastic educational films are on the internet now and available for you to share with your students.
This film,
Sooper Goop, teaches kids about how cereal advertisers fool them into thinking their product is SUPER when it actually isn't.
I have used this, and other films about advertising, to teach kids about how to be aware of the commercials they see and to not let it influence them too much. We talk about the different strategies they use to make things look or sound better than they are.
In addition I have broken the kids into small groups and allowed them to come up with some advertising for any random object that I give them. They have to give it a dynamic name, draw a logo, and write a fun advertisement that they can act out for the group later. You can even record them to make a commercial!
This could be a great week long project. With about 30 minutes a day of activity.
See update about Persuasive Writing at the end!
Day 1
Watch the
Super Goop film and talk about how advertising works and have the kids identify what they do to make things sound better than they are. Make a chart to keep for future use.
Day 2
Watch some fun vintage commercials and let the kids point out what they did to make things sound great and if they think it's true about the product. Possibly add to the chart.
Day 3
Separate the kids into groups, give them an object, and allow them to write a commercial and advertising(logos) to make it sound SUPER. Have them use at least two of the advertising strategies on the chart.
Day 4
Continue work on their advertising and commercial they can act out.
Day 5
Act out commercial for the entire group. You record it for commercials and let them watch it later.
Kids who are allowed to be creative can have a ton of fun and learn something important!
UPDATE, PERSUASIVE WRITING!
You can also include lessons on Persuasive Writing. I was substitute teaching today and the teacher asked me to teach a lesson about Persuasive Writing. As I was teaching it the students said it sounded like a commercial! I forgot to take a photo of my anchor chart. Dang! Anywho, it looked something like this.
I used some examples about Eating healthy to make a persuasive poster.
I then asked students to talk in small groups to brainstorm some ideas and they came up with some great ones. Connect the advertising lesson with persuasive writing and the classroom teachers will thank you!
Disney has free educators guides that can be downloaded. These guides are made for the classroom but can be easily adapted to make a great monthly theme. Using these also means that you can show the corresponding movies without copyright issues. They have lots of great content, including power points, printable activities and games. 
