Everybody has one
It says most people already bought it — so you feel left out if you don't. (bandwagon)
An ad isn't lying. It's selling — here's how to see it.
Teaching a child "ads lie" backfires — most ads are perfectly true. Their job isn't to lie; it's to make you want something, using a small set of well-worn moves that steer how you feel. The skill isn't distrusting everything — it's naming the move. Once a child can say "oh, that's the everybody-has-one trick," they stay the one who chooses.
Honest note: this page describes how the apps are designed. Recognizing persuasion is a real media-literacy skill, but the research on whether it changes what kids buy is promising and mixed — so we claim only that the design is honest, calm, and private, never a guaranteed outcome.
The ten moves every ad plays
These are the moves the apps teach a child to spot. None of them is a lie — each is a way of steering a feeling.
Only for now
A clock or "limited time" pushes you to hurry before you can think. (scarcity)
An expert says so
A white coat, a badge, or "9 out of 10" stands in for real proof. (authority)
A happy face
One person's good story is shown as if it happens to everyone. (testimonial)
Shiny words
Big feelings — "amazing", "magical" — with no facts underneath. (glitter)
You'll miss out
It warns something bad happens if you don't buy. (fear)
You deserve it
It tells YOU you're special so you'll say yes. (flattery)
Again and again
The name is repeated until it just sticks in your head. (repetition)
A free gift
A "free" extra quietly hides the real price. (bribery)
Careful words
"helps", "up to", "may" — words that sound like a promise but promise nothing. (weasel)
How a child practices it
Two free browser apps, one skill, calibrated by age. Both show made-up ads for made-up things — never a real brand — and both end by saying the ad again in plain, honest words: what it's actually telling you.
PitchPals (6–8) reads a short ad aloud and asks a child to tap which of two simple tricks it's using — big targets, no reading required. PitchForge (9–14) shows the full ad and asks which of the ten moves it plays, then reveals the tell and the honest rewrite.
What that means, concretely
- No real brands, ever. Every ad in the apps is a made-up product for a made-up thing — we never train a child on, or against, a real company (and we collect nothing about the child).
- The apps grade only the SPOT — did you name the move? — never the child. A miss is "look, here it is", not a red X.
- The in-app helper asks questions and shows the tell; it never writes the ad, the answer, or an opinion for the child. There is no open chat.
- Free forever — no ads, no purchases, no subscription. No account, no login; nothing leaves the device.
- No streaks, no leaderboards, no score to chase, no countdown timers. A calm "done for today" is a real state.
The rest of the media-literacy shelf
Spotting the sell is one habit. Checking what's true is another: read the news like a reporter in NewsForge, and check a claim before you share it in TruthQuest.
More on how we build for trust: our safety architecture · for parents & educators · privacy.
Last updated 2026-09-16. Spark & Anvil is a non-profit; the apps are free forever.