Visual analysis of an advertisement - Essay Example

Visual Analysis of an Advertisement Language, Communication and Society Introduction This visual analysis seeks to explore visuals used to forward different social constructs in the society with a view to understanding their purpose, arguments, and motivations. The purpose of this analysis is to examine an image publicized by a charity called Barnardo’s in their campaign to stop sexual trafficking and exploitation of children. The image of the young girl was used to expose the issue into local, nationwide and international spheres, which a view to bringing change. This analysis presents the visual’s arguments by focusing on the purpose of the image and its message, the focus of approach, target audience, the rationale for the presentation of the visual and, the rhetorical analysis and their effectiveness in presenting the image. Purpose of the Image and its Message The message of this image is straightforward and is embedded in the message at the top, right-hand corner which reads, “Abuse through prostitution steals children’s lives.” A young girl sits next to an older man in a situation that denotes child abuse and prostitution. The message of the image is to end child prostitution, trafficking and abuse by preventing and restoring the stolen childhood. The campaign with the visual was launched worldwide, intended for a global audience since child prostitution and trafficking is a global experience that happens everywhere (Aldrich, 2003). The image relates to the mindset of everyone, since even those who don’t have children were once children, and it is sad to imagine getting robbed of one’s innocence and childhood. By appealing to the emotions of the audience, the visual seeks to bring attitude change in the audience. Neutral colors are used to give the visual a lifeless effect to the look of the young girl (Aslam, 2006). The image shows a young girl with an aging face and a middle-aged man lying next to her. The aging and lifeless effect of the image means that the abuse of the young children through prostitution makes the children lifeless as a result of being abused by older men since her childhood. Furthermore, the child has a very distressing facial expression that shows the traumatic impact child prostitution has on the children (Small & Verrochi, 2009). The visual targets a wide audience coverage to make its message effective in evoking action. The visual seeks to create awareness to their target audience that the victims of child trafficking and prostitution are also victims of sexual assault, abuse, and exploitation. Presenting a complete, clearer picture like this campaign visual serves to motivate the audience to take action to end child prostitution. It makes the audience find the matter critical and treat it as an issue of immediate priority. Audience Characteristics It is prudent for a campaign visual to have a target audience since an audience it necessary for the creation of awareness and spreading the message to a wide audience coverage. This image is intended for people who are above the age of 18 years and understand the basis of child prostitution. The message targets people in the society who realize the circumstances and the effects of abusing young children. The viewers of this image could be people who can understand the image and its implications, even without the words used to accompany it. These are people who are interested in the plight of children in the society and those who have the interest in the social issues of the world (Burt & Strongman, 2005). Such people are valuable in this campaign as they might want to help any child who is caught up in such a situation and may also contribute to creating awareness in the society. The campaign also targets specifically people who have children of their own or people who have suffered child prostitution before. Such people comprehend the importance of this campaign since such problems in the society affect them directly. It is emotionally and psychologically distressing to imagine one’s child in such an unhappy and drained state as a result of sexual exploitation. Furthermore, people who have been abused before may not wish to see the same thing happen to other innocent children. The feeling of having one’s childhood and innocence taken away by old men can trigger the target audience to join the campaign to help victims of child prostitution. The image is also intended for people who work with children. When viewing this image, what comes into their minds is the effects that this type of abuse may have on the affected children in the long run for having been robbed of the freedom to be carefree and cheerful (Gross, 2010). Ethos This image has high credibility, especially since Barnardo as a source of the campaign has high credibility on issues of sexual abuse and child prostitution. Barnardo’s charity is dedicated to research, campaigns and projects that are aimed at transforming the lives of children who are victims or vulnerable to social vices. Barnardo’s charity seeks to create awareness in the globe about various ills that affects children such as child trafficking, sexual exploitation, child abuse, child poverty, and disability violence. The charity provides relief services to the victims of these vices and also undertakes efforts in initiating campaigns and debates on child prostitution and child abuse (Koven, 2006). The credibility of the visual is further enhanced by the fact that it is supported by a charity organization with the necessary facts and resources. Barnardo’s charity and approach to calling attention to the plight of vulnerable children and ending child neglect and abuse include embarking on campaigns that call for the promotion of efforts to protect vulnerable children from abuse and neglect. The charity organization has used massive resources in their campaigns to address the plight of such children in the society, making them highly credible as a source of this campaign. Moreover, the image is an eye opener as it serves to expose the issue to the world that such a thing is happening to some children in some parts of the world. The image shows that this is not just any typical form of prostitution, but one involving minors who have been trafficked and therefore, have no freedom to say no to the acts. The innocent children are very vulnerable and unfortunate since they are immersed in the cruel kind of life and forced to engage in sexual acts unwillingly. The image has less information but presents a very strong message for the audience to help end child abuse. They provide additional information in their website by leaving a link for those who would choose to contribute to their course. Pathos Pathos are used in the visual for appeal to human emotions as a form of persuasion. An emotional appeal has an influence on the potential action of the target audience as they are roused by the emotion in the image. The image elicits deferent emotions depending on the age and the type of the audience (Small & Verrochi, 2009). Due to the lack of more direct information on the image, it differentiates the understanding of the visual by targeting people who are roughly above the age of 18 years. An adult clearly understands the message of the image and can comprehend the physiological and emotional pain that the victims go through as a result of their vulnerability to such social vices. The image appeals to the emotions of parents and the guardian of young children who connect with the message. Seeing the child in such a pitiful states evokes the feeling of sympathy for the child who has been drained by the effects of prostitution. The pity derived from imagining sexual acts against such a helpless young child prompts the audience to desire to help the children caught up in child prostitution (Giles, 2003). The image’s source of emotional appeal mostly focuses on the body language, posture and the face of the children. The young girl has an aging face with gray hair as if she has been designed with the face belonging to an elderly woman. She looks drained and exhausted as if life has been pulled out of her. The manner in which she puts her toes and hands together is a symbol of a child’s innocence. This is such a disturbing image for any parent or guardian to watch, eliciting the want to help end such abuse. Logos The image applies logos as an appeal to rational, logical and coherent thoughts expressed in the campaign. The visual is created with an aim of convincing the audience through appeal to reason (Goodnow, 2011). No child has to go through any form of abuse whether prostitution, beating or verbal abuse since it is wrong. People understand that it is wrong to abuse children, and it is even more sickening when the abuse is through prostitution. It is common logic that children in different parts of the world are kidnapped, trafficked and used for prostitution unwillingly. Countries, where there is great awareness of this problem, has fewer cases of child abuse compared to countries with less awareness. As such, the campaign calls for viewers to increase the awareness of child prostitution in the world. The rationale for the male figure in the image shows that older men prefer to target young children since they are young, innocent and defenseless. The picture of the man in the image has his face cut out from the visual. The effect of the image would be less strong if the man’s face to be shown since the logic shows that any untrustworthy man could be an abuser. The visual appeals to the audience to be vigilant of abusers since they could be people known and trusted by the young children, making it difficult to foresee an impending abuse (Noel, 2010). Conclusion Although some people have criticized the visuals as “too shocking” for a campaign, the message intended is clear with a simple image and does not create much controversy (Pflaumbaum, 2012). The image depicts a small child that has been aged by child prostitution by presenting the face of an elderly woman on the body of a young girl. The young girl’s innocence is the focal point of this image, which is contrasted by the maturity of her face. The image has a middle-aged man on its background which denotes the perpetrators of sexual abuse. They are older men who overwhelm and overpower the helpless, vulnerable children, forcing them into prostitution unwillingly. The visual uses ethos, pathos and logos to appeal to the target audience to support end abuse, sexual trafficking and exploitation of children. References Aldrich, T., (2003). Do-it-yourself DRTV: An approach guide to making direct response television advisement work for charities. International Journal of Non-Profit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, Vol, 9 (2). pp. 135-144. Aslam, M., (2006). Are You Selling The Right Color? A Cross Cultural Review of Color Marketing Cue. Journal of Marketing and Communications, Vol, 12. Pp 15-30. "Barnardo’s child prostitution, Ads of the World™." Ads of the World™ Creative Advertising Archive & Community. Barnardos, n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2015. . Burt, C. D. B. & Strongman, K. (2005). Use of Image in Charity Advertisements: Improving Donations and Compliance Rates. International Journal of Organizational Behavior, 8 (8). Pp. 571-580. Giles, D., (2003). Media Psychology. New Jersey: Lawrence, Erbium Associates. Goodnow, T., (2011). The Daily Show and Rhetoric: Arguments, Issues, and Strategies. Plymouth: Lexington Books. Gross, R., (2010). Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior. 6th Ed. London Hodder Education. Koven, S., (2006). Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London. Princeton University Press. Noel, C. P., (2010). Shock Advisement: Theories, Risks, And Outcomes Analyzed Using the Case Of Barnardo’s. Student Pulse, Vol, 2 (2). pp 1-2. Pflaumbaum, C. (2012). Shock Advertising – How Does the Acceptance of Shock Advertising by the Consumer Influence the Advertiser’s Design? Curtin University Australia. Small, D. A. & Verrochi, N. M., (2009). The Face of Need: Facial Emotion Expression on Charity Advertisements. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 46 (6). pp 777-787. Read More