Grabbing Your Attention
Grabbing the viewers’ attention is
the first thing that advertisers want to do. Using bright colors, graphic
pictures or interesting jargon are some of the different tactics people use for
attention getting. There is always a meaning behind a picture whether it’s good
or bad; a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case I am comparing three different
drunk driving advertisements and analyzing their meaning. They are similar in some
ways, but they also are very unique as well. Delivering a strong message in the
advertisement just by a small picture can change someone’s life.
In the MADD (Mothers Against Drunk
Driving) advertisement above, the view point is supposed to be as if you were
looking from a grave. The MADD organization began with a mother who lost her
child in a drunk driving crash. She turned her grief into a positive change;
her work and the work of so many other mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers
started a program that has saved 300,000 lives and still counting. “The mission
of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is to stop drunk driving, support the victims
of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking” (MADD 2011). The logic of
the picture is that this is one of the many consequences that can happen by
drunk driving. As you probably noticed the shape of the sky in the background
is a skull which represents death. The sky is dark and cloudy which sets the
mood of sadness.
Graduation is a huge milestone in a
person’s life, and it is a big achievement. Having one drink of alcohol can
change the future for not just you, but for others too. The audience for this
ad is for high school and college students since the scene is a graduation
ceremony. Kairos is also used in this picture because its timing is directed to
everyday students and the place of the view point is so disturbing that it
catches your attention on the spot. The phrase “I want to look away, but I
can’t” works really well with this picture. The image is so disturbing and you
want to look away, but you can’t. The truth hurts sometimes but people need to
know the truth.
Figure 2 Absolute on Ice Ad
In figure two, Absolute Vodka gives a
chilling advertisement that makes you want to cringe. The picture is of a covered
dead corpse on a cold metal table at the morgue with a ticket on the foot to
identify the body. The pathos in the image is very serious; death from alcohol
is very serious. We don’t even know if the body belongs to a drunk driver or a
random pedestrian that was ran over by the drunk driver. The logic in the
picture is the same as in figure one.
Using disturbing realistic pictures to capture
the emotion lets people know that drinking is a serious issue. The argument in
this picture is that people who drink irresponsibly can hurt others in the
process. It takes responsibility to drink alcohol.
Figure 3 Molson Ad
The Molson alcohol advertisement
above shows the effects of alcohol just by looking through the glass. In normal
view you can just see just a plain car driving down the street, but when you
look through the glass the car is upside down. The feeling in this picture is
calm with bright colors. The seriousness doesn’t hit the viewer until they
understand why the vehicle is upside down.
All three of the alcohol
advertisements shown above are trying to input fear into the viewer’s mind as a
reminder to drink responsibly. In the past, alcohol advertisements were only to
encourage people to buy their products. Now that they realized how much of an
impact that the companies are making and they are finally encouraging drinkers
to drink responsibly. The ads all show their own rhetorical devices of ethos,
pathos, locos and kairos.
Works Cited
Emergence Marketing. 26 May 2006. 20 February 2012
<http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2006/05/24/spoof-advertising-what-do-you-do-when-this-happens-to-your-brand/>.
Gifford, Amy. Inventor Spot. 2006. 20 February
2012 <http://inventorspot.com/articles/alcohol_awareness_6123>.
Mother's
Against Drunk Driving. 2011. 20
February 2012 <http://www.madd.org/>.
No comments:
Post a Comment