Egg advertisements

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This activity is designed to be a literacy activity that also covers aspects of art and design and citizenship. It looks at a couple of egg advertisements and the ways in which messages are conveyed in adverts to encourage people to eat eggs. The first advert (right) has the caption "Soldiering on" to remind people of the fact that soft-boiled eggs can be eaten with toast soldiers and to convey the "soldiering on" attitude associated with the British mindset. British eggs are stamped with the red Lion Quality mark that means the eggs have come from British hens vaccinated against salmonella and therefore should be safe to eat. Lions are associated with being proud to be British. The use of the Lion as a quality symbol carries connotations of strength, pride, 'top of the range' and so forth. Ask pupils to comment on the images of how the egg is photographed so that it looks appetising and encourages the eating of eggs.

The second advertisement (right below) has a catchy slogan reminding people that eggs are quick to prepare and contain lots of good nutrients vital for the human body to function. Adjectives like "fast" and "good" convey the message in simple terms. The scrambled eggs on toast are shown in a take-away container to emphasise the point that the food is fast to prepare. It may also be worth pointing out to pupils that eggs are cheap and could be cooked at home for less than the cost of a take-away. The questions focus attention on the slogans and provide opportunity for discussion of punctuation, rhyme, alliteration and puns.

The appropriate curriculum links are given below:

English Reading En 2, 2a Use inference and deduction
Reading En 2, 2c Make connections between different parts of a text
Reading En 2, 3d Draw on different features of a text including print, sound and image to obtain meaning
Reading En 2, 3f Distinguish between fact and opinion
Reading En 2, 4a Recognise the choice, use and effect of figurative language, vocabulary and patterns of language
Reading En 2, 4b Identify different ways of constructing sentences and their effects
Reading En 2, 5b Identify words associated with reason, persuasion, argument, explanation, instruction and description
Writing En 3, 1a Choose form and content to suit a particular purpose
Art and Design Investigating and making art, craft and design 2c Communicate observations ideas and feeling
Evaluating and developing work 3b Compare ideas methods and approaches to communicate observations, ideas and feelings
PSHE & Citizenship Preparing to play an active role as citizens 2k To explore how the media present information