Unrealistic promises: Starnberg elementary school students armed for advertising tricks

Created: 07/12/2022, 07:00

The Starnberg elementary school students received a visit from the Munich author Karin Burger (centre) on Monday.

Some of them had made advertising posters in advance - because Burger presented their book "Leo, Hanna and the advertising witches".

© ANDREA JAKSCH

Around 400 Starnberg elementary school students now know quite a few tricks of the advertising industry.

Author Karin Burger explained to them how they are influenced in the supermarket and beyond.

Starnberg – Whether in the supermarket, at the bakery or on the Internet: Products from large corporations are lurking everywhere with sometimes unrealistic advertising promises, which are often significantly more expensive than those that are not advertised.

Only a few can still see through the jungle of TV advertising, newspaper ads and cardboard displays in the supermarket.

The pupils of the Starnberg elementary school, however, are now part of it.

Thanks to a reading by Karin Burger from her book "Leo, Hanna und die Werbehexen" they now recognize better when they are influenced by advertising.

For example in the so-called whine zone at the checkout or in You Tube videos on the internet.

On Monday, Burger told around 400 children in the Hirschangerhalle the story of Leo and Hanna, who were told by their parents where the advertising witches are hiding and what you can do to counter them.

But the two also get to know advertising fairies - and with that they learn that advertising can not only be manipulative, but also informative.

The Munich author describes the brainstorming for her book as follows: “I was shopping for toothpaste with my son Laurenz in the supermarket.

He asked me: 'Mom, why is the small, colorful tube more expensive than the big one?'

I replied, 'These are the advertising witches.'" She also reported: "I then repeated the story to my friends and many parents then told me that when they started educating their children about the advertising witches, the children have stopped whining when they go shopping.” That encouraged her to write everything down and send it to a publisher friend.

He thought the idea was great.

She wrote the chapters in the mornings to read to her children in the evenings.

This is how the book came about.

Burger knows the world of advertising very well, having previously worked in various companies in public relations, marketing and sales.

But it helped her even more that she is a mother herself and that she went shopping with her children, she says.

Around 40 schools had applied for her free lecture, she chose the Starnberg elementary school because she was convinced by the concept of the three-hour event.

The book "Leo, Hanna and the advertising witches" would also be read in higher classes.

Fourth graders later assured them that they had understood the tricks of the advertising industry: Luis, for example, said he would not buy a product with a picture of a footballer if it cost more.

Anni found the reading very good and emphasizes: "It's true that there are advertising witches who trick you." And Sophie is aware: "If there's a star on the packaging, the product often costs more."

Philip Trabert