Media Literacy and Math

1. Media Literacy and Math Amber Hazelwood and Whitney Callahan

2. Pizza Hut Anti-Math Commercial • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IK6lanScSs

3. Who was the target audience in this commercial? How did they target their audience? How would you have targeted an audience that loved math? How would you have targeted an older audience?

4. What colors are dominant in the commercial? Why do you think this is? How might the feel of the commercial have been changed with different colors? What other colors would have been useful in the commercial? Why?

5. Describe the people in the commercial. Do you believe this creates a racial stereotype about people who like or hate math? Why or why not? What do you think was the motive in putting different types of people in the commercial?

6. Why do you think the directors/producers chose to target math, and not another subject like, reading, spelling, or science? What does that say about how society views math? How might the commercial be different if they had targeted another subject area?

7. How would different audiences view this commercial? Do you think it would be offensive to someone really skilled in math? Why or why not?

8. What do you think about the way the commercial presented math? Do you think they could have presented math in a positive way, and still have promoted their pizza? Why or why not? How would you have changed it? “People love Pizza, they don’t love math”

9. In what way does this appeal to different socio economic classes? How would you have appealed to lower socio economic classes? Higher SE classes? Do you think that showing math in a positive way would appeal to a higher or lower class? Why?

10. How do the characteristics of this form of media affect the message it sends? How would it have been different if this media were in another form? Draw a picture of a billboard presenting the same message.

11. What issues is this piece of media related to? How might it affect the way people act? What message does the commercial send about math? Does this have a negative or positive effect on children’s views about math? Explain

12. How was this piece of media constructed? What elements of the commercial tell you it was constructed? How would you have changed the construction of the media? Why would you make those changes?

13. Does this piece of media have any political implications? How do you know? Do you believe younger audiences would vote for a candidate who promoted this commercial or didn’t promote it?

14. What images does this commercial show? How does that promote their product? Why do you think the producer/directors chose these images? What images would you have used? Why? Do the images tell you anything about math?

15. Based on this commercial, what does it tell you about how Pizza Hut views math? Do you believe Pizza Hut would want these assumptions made about them? Why or Why not? Do you think people might boycott Pizza hut because of it?

16. How would you feel if Pizza Hut attacked your favorite subject area? Do you think it’s fair for them to attack one group and not another? Why or Why not? Do you think audiences would relate more or less to the message a commercial presents had it been a different subject matter? Why or why not?

17. Even though this commercial is meant to present math in a negative way, in what ways is math presented positively? Does this affect the message Pizza hut is trying to send? Why or why not? How would it have been different if more math was used?

18. It’s Your Turn!!! • In this activity, you will not only create one commercial, but two! • You will create one commercial that presents math in a positive way, and one commercial that presents math in a negative way, but you must be presenting a key concept found in high school mathematics. • You can promote whatever product you wish

19. Here’s an Example