 Quick
Q&A’s about MediaSharp
What is MediaSharp?
It is a two-part media literacy education resource guide for educators
and community leaders who work with middle-school and high-school age youth.
It consists of an 80-page guide and 7-minute video, both featuring
activities and interactive learning. It focuses on three major forms of
media:
- advertising/marketing
- entertainment/sports
- news
MediaSharp is a creative learning tool for teaching
critical thinking, problem solving, and production techniques in a
nonjudgmental, nonauthoritarian style that appeals to young people. Using
alcohol and tobacco as its focus, it aims to engage educators and youth
leaders---and ultimately youth themselves---into a critical analysis of
overt ads and hidden media messages.
How does MediaSharp work?
Through MediaSharp, young people analyze how messages from the
media can influence their health and spending behaviors, and help them
assess the effect media has on their personal, family, and community health.
Typically they rely on actual samples of ads or excerpts from television and
movies.
This learning is then put into action as participants make their own
media messages. Often these youth-directed messages feature another point of
view: positive lifestyles, and the deglamorization of messages that promote
smoking or drinking. Overall, in the process, youngsters quickly pick up on
how lead characters in ads, movies, billboards, etc., are targeting them and
offering unrealistic messages. Often youngsters go beyond analysis and spoof
ads that promise romance to those who buy a certain brand of beer, or
smoke a certain brand of cigarette, often in hilarious ways.
What does the MediaSharp video portray?
The video portion of MediaSharp is hosted by a young film director
who leads viewers through the array of alcohol and tobacco media messages
that bombard youth today. It does so by illuminating both obvious and its
more subtle channels.
It also shows young people in classrooms and workshops how to respond to
media messages by writing and making their own media productions. A written
guide for leaders and educators also is provided to accompany the video.
Why does it matter?
Projections as to what the tobacco and alcohol industry spend each year
on advertising vary, but in general, most experts place the cost at $4 to $6
billion each year. In 1993, the cigarette industry spent $6.03 billion on
advertising, and in 1994, it spent $4.83 billion, according to the Federal
Trade Commission’s annual report to Congress, released October 9, 1996.
Today, tobacco kills more people every day than AIDS, car crashes,
suicide, alcohol, illegal drugs, fires and murders combined. Each day,
another 3,000 young people become regular smokers, according to CDC
researchers. More than 33 percent of these young smokers will eventually die
from their addiction.
At the same time, the beer and cigarette industry spends billions each
year sponsoring youth-oriented college marketing campaigns, including sports
events, rock concerts, and spring break promotions. And, it’s paying off. A
recent CDC survey found that about 86 percent of adolescent smokers who
bought their own cigarettes preferred Marlboro, Camel, or Newport
cigarettes---the most heavily marketed brands.
Behavioral science research shows that media literacy skills can have
both immediate and delayed effects on children’s perceptions of
alcohol and tobacco use.
   
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