Babbitt Lesson Plan

Proto-Mad Men (Part 1)

Kind of Activity:

Research

Objective:

Students will research 1920s advertisements and prepare a report on their findings.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2

Structure:

In today’s reading, we were shown a fair number of examples of 1920s-style advertising: George Babbitt attempts to write copy for a couple of different plots of land, and Ted Babbitt reads several ads for correspondence courses. Given that the book was published in 1922, we may see Lewis’s examples as reasonably accurate—albeit stylized—examples of the advertising style of the time. Students likely will have noticed that ads have changed dramatically in the ensuing...