Peddling Garden Produce
Author: Eve Pranis
Overview
Students use their newfound “advertising savvy” to market fresh fruit
and vegetable fare to the school community.
Laying the Groundwork
If you conducted Laying
the Groundwork: Taking Stock of Advertised Foods, look back at
the categories students generated. If not, do one of two things:
1. Ask students to generate a list and/or bring in samples of ads for
fresh fruits and vegetables. (They just might come up empty!)
2. Launch
a discussion. Ask, Which advertisements for fresh vegetables
can you recall seeing in magazines, television, or other media? How
about ads for fast foods, sugary cereals, or snack foods? Ask,
How would you explain the difference in the number of ads for
produce vs. other food categories?
(Note: If students bring in produce ads, see if they can
figure out who produced them. Chances are, fruit or vegetable
ads are from
nonprofit groups such as Five
A Day or the American Cancer
Society.)
Exploration
1. Assuming your students have raised a garden, visited farms, or otherwise
pondered produce,
create a class list of the virtues of fruits and
vegetables. Ask, Do
you think other friends or students would have an easy time doing this?
Why or why not?
2. Present this challenge to the class: Use what
you’ve learned about food marketing to create an advertisement for
one of the following.
-
Your school garden produce.
-
A single fruit, vegetable,
or other healthful plant-based item.
-
A plant-based dish you’ve
created or cooked in class.
-
Fruits and vegetables on the cafeteria
menu.
3. Give groups time to research and take notes on how the products
they’ll pitch can keep people healthy. Here are some resources they
can use:
Fruit
and Vegetable Facts Chart
Grow
for the Gusto: Plants that Pack a Punch
Nutrition Data (Students can easily find nutrition facts for any food or recipe.)
4. Tell students they’ll also need to do
some market research. After
all, in order to peddle goods and services, advertisers
spend lots
of money getting to know their audiences. Then they can decide what
“pitch” to make. Ask, Who is your audience (e.g., other students in
school, younger siblings, teachers, parents)? What do you want to know
about your audience? (What would help you pitch your product to them?)
How can we get that information?
5. Consider a conducting a survey. (If you don’t have time or inclination
to do one, have students try to answer some of the survey question,
below, on their own.)
Discuss the format of the survey. For instance,
it could be based on interviews, multiple choice questions, written
responses, or a
blend of formats.
Come up with questions. Find ones that you think can help you pitch
your product to this group. Here are some samples:
-
What do you care about? What’s important to you (e.g.,
sports, family, being cool or thin)?
-
What makes you choose the foods you eat?
-
What’s your favorite food ad? Why do you like it?
-
What fruits and vegetables do you like?
-
What might
make you decide to try new fruits and vegetables? (You might
offer some possibilities, e.g.,
apple slices with dip rather
than whole apples.)
-
What are your feelings
about healthful
foods?
6. Decide how to gather, organize, and interpret survey information.
Once teams have reviewed results, they should use what they’ve learned
to inform their ads. Ask, How else could we use the information? (Students
could share it with food service staff, for instance.)
7. Give groups time to develop ads. Explain that the ads must be truthful
and include some nutritional information. Students can choose a poster
or magazine format or they can act out a TV ad. Pass out copies of
the Advertising
Fresh Food (Planner) handout along with art materials
such as markers, chart paper, magazines, scissors, and so on.
Making Connections
-
Give each group two minutes to present its ad to classmates.
Allow time for the rest of the class to identify the persuasive strategies
used. Ask, How effective might this be at getting you to
try
the food(s)t? What might make it more effective? What did you learn
about fruits
and vegetables?
-
Finally, share ads or presentations with
your target audience. For instance, groups might visit other
classrooms, post ads in
the cafeteria or hallway, or present them at a parent event.
Assessment
Check that students’ conversations, ad creation process, and final
products reveal growth in these areas:
-
Understanding of some
of the strategies food marketers use to persuade people to buy
products.
-
Inclination to ask questions about food ads and package
claims.
-
Ability to gather and make sense of data (if survey
conducted).
-
Ability to use a range of media to convey ideas to
different audiences.
-
Understanding of and appreciation for the nutritional
value of fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based foods.
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© 2009
National Gardening Association