An exercise in media literacy

Watching TV the other night, I started thinking of something I see all the time but never gave it much thought and that was the advertisements that include little notes that say, “See our ad in X magazine”. AmbienCR says something like “See our ad in Cooking Light”. Exactly what are these little notes designed to accomplish? What are they telling us? Do they want us to go out and buy the magazine and read their ad? Do they want us to appreciate the fact that they have an ad in a magazine? Do they want us to thumb through the magazines around the house to find their ad? Do they want to suggest that the magazine endorses their product? If I were in the classroom right now, I’d want to ask students what purpose these notes serve.