Ultra
Standard
ESL lesson
What Are They Really Selling?
Students discover how persuasive adverts connect ordinary products with identity, values, emotion and belonging, then use practical language to analyse and create campaigns.
- Level
- B1 / Intermediate
- Time
- 80–90 min
- Format
- Video Lesson / Functional Language
Lesson materials
Choose the resource you want to use in class.
Lesson overview
This B1 Standard video lesson takes learners beyond product features and asks them to examine what persuasive advertising is really selling. Students begin with familiar advertising experiences, then watch a short AJ+ excerpt exploring three connected techniques: linking products with values and identity, borrowing the image of admired people, and creating a sense that something desirable is missing.
Students build practical advertising vocabulary and functional language for describing influence, including “makes people feel…”, “suggests that…”, and “connects the product with…”. They then use this language to explain how campaigns influence an audience. In the main analysis task, they study four original fictional ads for trainers, a travel app, coffee and a smartphone, identifying the product, target customer, broader promise and persuasive technique. The lesson ends with a genuine production task in which pairs create and present their own campaign for an everyday product, deliberately selling a feeling, identity or lifestyle as well as the product itself.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students can:
Understand the main idea and selected details in the AJ+ advertising excerpt.
Use advertising vocabulary accurately in adult-life contexts.
Explain how an advert connects a product with a broader promise.
Create and present a persuasive campaign using at least two analysis expressions.
Teaching at a glance
The essentials for planning this lesson.
- Level
- B1 / Intermediate
- Teaching time
- 80–90 min
- Language
- Vocabulary · Functional Language
- Skills
- Listening · Speaking · Critical Thinking
- Topic
- Media
- Format
- Video Lesson · Functional Language
Lesson structure
A practical sequence from warm-up to final task.
-
Advertising in Our Lives
Students discuss familiar advertising experiences and build key vocabulary.
-
The Advertising Video
Students watch for gist, then replay the values, role-model and belonging ideas.
-
How Ads Influence Us
Students learn functional language for describing how an advert works.
-
Campaign Analysis and Production
Students analyse four fictional campaigns and create their own.
Lesson materials
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