This book was not what I was expecting. I thought that it was going to be more about the psychological nature behind why ads work and it was more about the structure of making them. Having worked in publishing for 15 years, I think there are better ways to put this information out there.

Never have I read such a comprehensive breakdown of advertising. Fyvie takes us through the structure, methodology, and psychology of ads. We learn about the roles played by various members of advertising teams and technical terms for assorted parts of campaigns. None of this is explored in a great deal of depth but we do get a basic introduction to every aspect. This is an excellent resource for kids with an interest in business or wanting to understand the complex influence of advertising on our decision making.

This was a very enjoyable book and I could definitely see myself using it in a classroom or at home with kids in the Junior/Intermediate grades (grade 4-9). It explains different aspects of advertising in a comprehensive way that kids could relate to and understand easily.

This book is overflowing with great information about advertisements, from history to science to how they specifically relate to you, (and your privacy! ) Having said that, the read-through reminds me of a school textbook, which will cause young readers to disconnect from the book, (despite the wealth of knowledge available!) Since the subject matter was ads, I think there was a missed opportunity to have a lot of colours, bubbles or even utilizing ad methods to not only break up the text, (there are a lot of chunky, plain text paragraphs,) but to explain the text and maintain engagement with the reader.

When asking for this book, I thought it was under "children nonfiction", so I gave it a go, curious about what a book about advertisement would say to children? But actually, this is more for teens rather than kids.

You don't need it? Maybe you got discouraged by its so many pages, have no fear, you do need it! Why? Because you can unknowingly got screened for your preferences through your phone and social media.

Scary? Probably. Then again, here we are living in a world of internet, where we got connected so many times a day, of course medias will make the most of our internet time. This book explained on how you can be targeted for some advertisement. No wonder you found what you like while surfing the net.

Mad for Ads
How Advertising Gets (and Stays) in Our Heads
by Erica Fyvie
Back of the Book: “This amusing and engaging behind-the-scenes look at advertising and its influence will help kids decode the ads that surround them every day and make smart decisions. For children growing up in an advertising-saturated world, here's an eye-opening explanation of what advertising is, how it works and why that matters. The book covers the components of an advertising campaign, from slogans to logos, and the many ways marketers seek to influence behavior, from tapping into fears to using psychological pricing. It then brings these techniques and tools to life by taking readers through the creation of two fictional advertising plans. Along the way, there's information about the strategies that advertisers use to influence their audience, as well as valuable background on how digital technology allows companies to track people and what that means for privacy. It's a savvy look at the business of advertising that teaches children to pay better attention to ads and be more discerning about the messages they find. Award-winning author Erica Fyvie has geared this vital, comprehensive and entertaining look at advertising to children who are just beginning to notice and to be swayed by brands. By building media literacy and promoting critical thinking about all kinds of marketing tools --- from in-game ads to social media “kid influencers” --- the book empowers readers to analyze and respond to what they see every day. Relevant, child-friendly language and examples, along with bold and humorous illustrations by Ian Turner, keep the pages lively and interesting. There are direct curriculum links to language arts, visual arts, technology and social studies lessons. Also included are a glossary, index and selected bibliography.”
Impressions: This was an imperative topic to address with kids in a saturated world of media and ads. This book was colorful and engaging to read and learn from. As you work through the book you will learn what ads are and why they exist, how to make and decipher an ad, how ads are marketed as well as how to decode and filter the ads around us. There are hands on activities inside to make the read less “bookish” and more fun and memorable. This is the first book I’ve found that equips kids and teens to learn the language of advertising in order to make wiser choices. I think this was a great book. We need to protect the young people in our lives by helping them understand the concepts addressed in this book. I hope you check this one out!
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review shared here.

This book is packed with information, largely discussed at an accessible level. It attempts to simplify without talking down to readers while applying information in ways that kids will care about. At times, the information is a bit overwhelming, but the text features and illustrations do help dramatically.

This is an engaging way to help students think about the ads that they are bombarded with in their everyday lives. This is a topic in need of curricular materials.

This book was written for kids, but to be honest, I think this should be required reading for all ages. Covering topics like how many ads the average person sees in a day (way more than you think!) to how advertising gets into our head even when we don't realize it, this book is a wake up call. The pages are well-designed and colorful, with small sections that make it easy to read and keep reading. In short, a win on all accounts!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read and review.

This is a very in depth look at the process of advertising. It will be a great addition to a teen or young adult library. It addresses the who, how, and why of marketing and advertising products. It will definitely help students see beyond the surface and understand how advertising is working to make them want want want.

There was lots of information in this book. It is intended to be well organized, but with so much information on each page, it could be overwhelming. I could see a kid skimming it because it is bombarded with information and not very engaging.

"Advertising is essentially amoral." That's a direct quote from a book I read days before the subject of this review, and knowing this was on my to-read shelf it needed attention. Now, I've done media studies and all that malarkey and I can't really remember seeing anything that is inherently anti-advertising, when I could so easily have expected it to be. For advertising is definitely one of the greater evils of our time – and when you consider the sexism, over-commercialism, consumerism it has provided us all with over centuries, it's about time that message was reinforced. Just think, if we could have a generation of people not blatantly-yet-seemingly-ignorantly wearing adverts (whether it be Hollister, North Cape, or any other over-priced brand), would they be any the less happy? Nike et all never make T-shirts, they only make T-shirt shaped adverts for themselves – but no end of people seem happy to reduce themselves to walking billboard status, to zero benefit.

This is a very good book concerning the generation of brand awareness in the young, but it still never once treads on the "just buy something non-branded for once – or actually, don't buy it at all" path. It gives us a fictional bubble gum brand, and a green tech recycling firm, and leads us by the hand through the lesson of how they would best be appealing to our own best intentions. We also dabble into the inner workings of the mind, with the psychology of how ads work and how we respond to them. Clickbait and the digital footprint that certainly didn't exist when I was a student are covered, too. It's a commendable book in that it is definitely concentrating on North American data, but is global in reach, and that it never points us towards any current slogan, badging or jingle, and therefore won't date. It covers everything that might help kids get media- and ad-savvy, although I still think that message will have to be reinforced.

To close, as I write this at Xmas time, it's a book that covers everything except answering the question as to why TV ads for perfumes have to be uniformly the most pretentious shite on earth?

I dont really know what age group this book would be for. The pictures are so colorful and huge but the content is too much at a time. It has so many things to learn about, I feel like the author should have chosen onky half of them. I think that all about having a footprint and helping children know what they go on, on their phones and computers, that people can be watching them. I did like the reminder of the supermarket aisles and how the lowest priced foods are at the bottom.