Reading a Tea Ad
Goal: After this lesson you can analyze a tea advertisement using a media-literacy lens. Subject: English Language Arts | Run time: about 7 minutes
Quick recall
Last time we covered tea's great texts. Two quick questions. One: how did Lu Yu describe the stages of boiling water? Fish eyes, then spring sounds, then raging waves (Lu Yu, 760 CE). Two: what does wabi-sabi mean? Beauty in imperfection (Sen, 1998).
Why this matters
Next time you see an ad for tea, slow it down and ask who is not in the picture. A field of green leaves, soft light, a calm hand pouring into a porcelain cup. Beautiful. Now notice what the ad left out, the workers who picked and sorted every one of those leaves (Mair & Hoh, 2009).
The idea
You can read a tea ad the way you read a poem, by asking it questions. Here are five. First, what cultural tradition is it referencing? A Japanese ceremony, a British afternoon tea, an Indian chai stall? The tradition it borrows is a choice, and it is borrowing that tradition's feeling (Mair & Hoh, 2009). Second, whose labor is invisible? Tea reaches you through plantation workers and sorters whose hands rarely appear in the frame. An ad that shows only the finished cup is hiding the people who made it (Mair & Hoh, 2009). Third, what pace is shown? Almost every tea ad shows leisure, slowness, a quiet morning. The real production behind it can be fast and hard. Watch the gap between the calm in the ad and the speed of the actual work (Mair & Hoh, 2009). Fourth, what class assumptions are baked in? Fine china and a garden table say one thing. A steel thermos on a job site says another. The props are arguments about who this tea is for (Mair & Hoh, 2009). Fifth, which word does it use, "tea" or "chai" or "matcha," and what does that reveal? Each word carries its own cultural weight, and the brand chose one on purpose (Mair & Hoh, 2009). For a sense of how loaded the topic can get, look at George Orwell. In 1946 he wrote a whole essay, "A Nice Cup of Tea," laying out firm rules and strong opinions about how tea should be made (Orwell, 1946). People hold real convictions here, and advertisers know it.
Picture it
Picture two tea ads side by side. One has a porcelain cup, a linen cloth, slow golden light, the word "tea" in a thin elegant font. The other has a bright steel cup, a crowded street, the word "chai," fast and warm. Same plant in both cups. Two completely different stories about who you are when you drink it.
Remember this
The fact to carry out: a tea ad is a set of choices, and five questions crack it open, the tradition referenced, the labor hidden, the pace shown, the class assumed, and the word chosen (Mair & Hoh, 2009). Reading ads this way is the same skill as reading any text closely. You are asking not just what it shows, but what it leaves out and why.
Quick check
Quick check. Name two of the five questions you can ask of a tea advertisement. Any two: what tradition it references, whose labor is invisible, what pace it shows, what class it assumes, which tea word it uses (Mair & Hoh, 2009).
Key Takeaways
- A tea ad is a set of deliberate choices you can analyze like any text (Mair & Hoh, 2009).
- The five questions: what cultural tradition is referenced, whose labor is invisible, what pace is shown, what class assumptions are embedded, and which tea word is used (Mair & Hoh, 2009).
- Most ads sell leisure and hide the plantation workers and sorters behind the cup (Mair & Hoh, 2009).
- George Orwell's 1946 essay "A Nice Cup of Tea" shows how strong people's rules and opinions about tea can be (Orwell, 1946).
Sources
- Mair, V. H., & Hoh, E. (2009). The true history of tea. Thames and Hudson.
- Orwell, G. (1946, January 12). A nice cup of tea. Evening Standard.