Commercials are short, focused, and thematic in content. They present entire encapsulated and freestanding messages which can be manipulated and digested in less than one lesson. Students tend to stay on task longer and see a clear start and finish to the activity because of commercials' concise aims and brevity. A commercial can easily be found to introduce, review, or wrap up the themes of any lesson, because each introduces one main concept, ranging from sports, cars, and restaurants to AIDS and environmental concerns such as global warming. This variety in concentration is paramount in content-based teaching which intricately interweaves subject matter and language skills.
Commercials contain culturally-loaded slices of modern society.
Watching commercials introduces students to many cross-cultural topics ranging from gestures and body language to more probing issues of values, behaviors and ways of thinking, social problems, stereotypes, and idiosyncrasies. Furthermore, CMs are laden with culture-specific imagery, symbolism, and subconscious messages that can serve as vehicles for social commentary. Yet, since the purpose of commercials is to promote products in the forefront of change, their creators expend considerable effort, research, and money to keep them up to date. Commercials contain visual, verbal, and written images. Commercials present their messages in words and pictures which complement and support each other.