Coding Competence – How do I crack this?

This is a poster from one of Singapore’s most popular fastfood restaurant KFC. This poster is an advertisement for their new promotion, the “Ultimate Value Box”. The food items in the box occupies the central position of the poster and takes up about 50% of the poster space. The name of the promotion or the set meal, “Ultimate Value Box” is placed at the top left hand corner of the poster in an “exploding” font and in a slightly smaller font size on the meal box. The caption “Irresistible Value!” occupies ¾ of the top portion. The price is also given equal visibility as the caption, being the same size. However, the original prize and items included in the set are considerably smaller in font size.

This poster employs the use of multimodality, making use of visual images and words to advertise for the promotion.

Semantic Competence – What does this mean?

The main purpose of an advertisement is to sell a product or a service. In this case, KFC’s advertisement is selling their latest set meal. All the products served in this meal are their regular menu items, now repackaged to sell at a better value.

The image of the set meal is placed at the centre of the poster for greater saliency. The meal looks appetising and has a substantial portion. The salience of the image is further enhanced through the words as they seem to jump out from the box. The use of the lexis, “ultimate”, “irresistible” and “value” seems to imply that this is a “must-have”.

Pragmatic Competence – What do I do with this, here and now?

The reader will have to first ask themselves if it is truly a valued purchase. (Would it be more valuable to purchase the Shrooms Burger Meal and add a one-piece chicken, using member’s discount?)

Critical Competence – What is this text trying to do to me? In whose interests?

The text is trying to sell me the set meal. It is convincing me that this meal is valued for money and this is probably one of the best promotions. It is cheaper than purchasing the food items separately. Although it is cheaper, it does not compromise on quality and portion thus is it the “ultimate value”. The use of bright cheery colours and lines reminds one of fireworks and confetti, also helps to excite the reader and gives one a “WOW” feeling.

It is definitely in the interest of KFC to have this promotion and entice readers to purchase a set. This will result in an increase in sales and profits. However, the advertisement seems to be in the interest of the reader. It is cheaper than before (savings of almost $3), packaged differently (one can now have a burger and chicken which they didn’t have before) and substantial enough to fill one’s stomach.

Critical Reading with Sec 2 Students

I will get the students to form groups of 4. Through group work, students can challenge each other, thus facilitating deeper understanding and discussion.

There are two activities which I am thinking about. The first explores different promotion advertisements from different restaurants in Singapore at the same time. The second looks at advertisements from the same restaurant but from different countries, Singapore vs USA.

First Activity:

I will give them a series of 3 promotion advertisements by 3 different fastfood companies and get them to discuss the following questions:

1. What is the purpose of each of the individual advertisement? Are their purposes similar?

2. Who are the target customers of the advertisements?

3. Look at the layout of each poster, how are they similar or different?

4. From the layout of the poster, what are their makers trying to communicate?

5. As readers, what are some of the information you are receiving?

6. Do the advertisements successfully communicate their intentions to you? Explain.

7. Which advertisement do you think is most appealing?

8. Pick one advertisement that you think is the weakest. What changes would you make? Explain.

After which, each group will present their answers to the class and introduce their ‘new’ poster. The other groups will have to ask questions, comment or give feedback. Teacher will facilitate a discussion if there is no feedback from the class.

Second activity:

The students will compare two advertisements. One of which is the original KFC Singapore advertisement and the second, from KFC USA. The students will also discuss the above questions.