Level B2 General English
Lesson 2
The Power Of Advertisements
広告の力

1
TOPIC QUESTION
今日のトピック

What differences do you notice between the commercials from 10 or 15 years ago and today?
10〜15年前と今日のコマーシャルの間で、どんな違いに気づきますか?

2
ARTICLE
記事

Directions: Read the following article aloud.
課題: 以下の記事をはっきりとした声で音読しましょう。
Barbie Commercials

While studying about advertising, I came across these two Barbie commercials, one from the 1960s and one much more recent from the 1990s. It made me aware of just how much advertising has changed over the years, and how it has remained the same. Barbie is a really good example to show this because she has been around for so many years, and while she might have different hairstyles or clothes, she is still pretty much the same.

In the early 1960s commercial there is much more focus on the new features of the doll and how she is better than the older one. The promotion of being able to trade in your old Barbie to get the new Barbie cheaper is something we would never see today. It shows how there was more of a focus on the usefulness of the product and not just collecting more of the product. This 1960s commercial seems to promote the importance of getting the newest model, but newer commercials seem to focus more on collecting all the Barbies.

There are many different dolls advertised in the second commercial, and now they would never promote having only one Barbie because that would completely put the company out of business. It reminded me of how we discussed in class that Americans used to value the longevity of the product they had but now the focus seems to have shifted to getting the newest trend.

3
VOCABULARY
語い

Directions: First repeat after your tutor and then read aloud by yourself.
課題: 先生の後に続いてくり返した後、今度はひとりで発音してみましょう。

commercial
コマーシャル
advertisement
広告
feature
特徴
cheaper
より安く
promote
宣伝する
shift
変わる

4
QUESTIONS
質問

Directions: Read the questions aloud and answer them.
課題: 質問を声に出して読んだ後、答えてみましょう。

1.What does the 1960s Barbie commercial focus on?
2. What makes the commercial of Barbie today different from the commercial of Barbie before?
3. Which style do you like more, the 1960‘s advertisement or today's advertisement? Why?
4. Tell your tutor about a product commercial that you like.