Commercial Spots
This is a great activity to get your participants’ creative juices flowing! They’ll learn important skills such as how to work together to create a presentation as well as how to communicate that information to others. It’s incredibly fun, too!
In celebration of Red Ribbon Week this October, you can also relate this activity to prevention by having your Youth Action Team relate their commercial to the importance of being drug and alcohol free!
Time Needed: 20 minutes
Group Size: At least 10
Materials: Any “props” you have around your office or activity space such as hats, sunglasses, stick-on mustaches, etc. If you don’t have these items lying around, allow participants to use what is available. Anything will work!
Description & Directions: Split the group into smaller teams of five. Tell participants that auditions are being held for fresh talent to perform in TV commercials. Ask each team to designate an agent, a starring actor and writers from the people on their team. Give teams 10 minutes to pick the product they want to advertise and to create a promotional jingle. Participants can use any of the materials in the room as props. The agent from each team will introduce their product and actor, and the actor will perform the commercial. After 10 minutes, have each team perform their jingle for the entire group. Here are a few examples from our Georgia Teen Institute 2015 participants and staff!
Debrief Questions:
- In what ways did teammates each contribute to the creative process?
- Why do some commercials inspire us or convince us to buy their product?
- What is a concept or value that you would like to “sell” to others?
- How do we distinguish between honest and dishonest marketing tricks?
- How does this relate to alcohol advertisements we see?