Advertising has always been a popular language learning resource. Video adverts are short and can be reviewed on a number of occasions in class. They often include an element of surprise and are excellent for hypothesizing as learners have seen so many before. It is possibly the genre about which our learners are most visually literate. As such, they can analyse adverts easily and use this analysis as a basis for their own creations.

However, in the digital world, notions of advertising are changing. Companies use different channels to advertise and new genres have emerged which are a combination of advertising and editorial (’ advertorials ’). For example, one of the most watched advertorials on YouTube in recent years was an advert disguised as a ‘how-to’ clip. The video How to Shave your Body Hair used animation and generated a high number of views. However, the advert was sponsored by Gillette, and was therefore a means of reinforcing a message about the company's shaving products but in a disguised way, as if the viewer were merely taking in ‘useful information’.

The Gillette advert is an interesting example of a new genre, but one that may not be suitable for all language classrooms. On the other hand, Coca-Cola's campaign Let's Look at the World a Little Differently ( youtu.be/ssL8r1pJe_w ), which included acts of kindness and bravery recorded incidentally on security cameras around the world, proved incredibly popular in the classroom. It was successful because it tapped into the YouTube genre perfectly. It included very short clips of real people captured by accident and sandwiched together to create a good-time video with a light, upbeat message: perfect for sharing in social media networks.

Another interesting development is that the line between professionally made and amateur adverts is blurring. Companies are thus quick to pick up on any viral videos and make use of them. One of the first was a Chicken McNuggets rap that was found on YouTube and exploited by McDonald’s for their own official adverts. It is not uncommon for video memes to be appropriated into the mainstream in this way.