This ad never refers to any virtues of the boots, but it is heavy on description of the kind of person who wears them. It works well to talk about both the car ad and the boot ad and give kids a choice. If anyone is particularly interested in this ad I can xerox it and snail mail it, or I might be able to scan it. My husband has a scanner, but I don't know how to use it yet. As part of the assignment I ask them to bring in ads of their own.
Students love to read the narratives they spin out loud in class.
I do this whole cultural critique lesson at the beginning of my school year in connection with the American Dream and it provides a wonderful ice breaking activity and helps to build class rapport among the students and with me. The cultural codes we decode in the ads resonate through out the year and cropt up in discussions later on. Also, for a Language and Composition class, this lesson causes students to focus on language, diction and audience. This cultural critique lesson could be done at many places during the year though. Then my students have two other writing assignments.