I found this poster on a website with motivational posters. It came along with an article with an article about attention-getting drug awareness posters, which stated that putting up posters like this one helps to keep workplaces drug-free. I think the reason This poster is attention-getting is because of its rhetoric and context.
How does the maker of this poster use pathos to appeal to the audience?
How does the maker of this poster use the idea of the American Dream to emphasize the effects of drug use?
What do you think is the meaning of the blurriness of the top of the picture?
How do you think the environment around the shredder and the angle at which the audience sees the shredder helps emphasize the effects of drug abuse?
Prompt 7
ReplyDeleteThe poster seems to make the claim that drugs ruin lives. Pathos is used by the author because the picture of the family with a pet dog brings emotions to the reader. Sad emotions are brought out from this poster because the family's life is literally being shredded, or put to pieces. The explicit statement at the bottom of the poster, "drugs shred lives", also adds to the claim. The symmetry of the word shred and the visual aid of the family portrait being destroyed by the paper shredder is another way the author is supporting their claim.
Prompt 1
ReplyDeleteThe choice of using a picture of a happy family was an attempt to change how people view drugs and their abusers. A stereotypical drug user is a scruffy male living on the streets who probably doesn’t have a loving family. In the picture, the words and the image being shredded are implying that either the mother or the father is abusing drugs. People tend to not think about a parental figure abusing drugs. This picture is showing that a once happy family can easily be torn apart by the use of drugs. The poster itself changes your idea of who an abuser is. It can also open an abuser’s eyes and show him that it could tear his loving family apart.
Prompt 1:
ReplyDeleteThis image has a dark background, which emphasizes the seriousness that surrounds the topic that is presented, which is, in this case, drugs. The plain background also allows the paper shredder and the image that it is destroying to be the main focus of the poster. Some of the only color on this poster comes from the image of a family which is being shredded by the paper shredder and, again, this helps the image to stand out. This image is very powerful and demonstrates how families can be affected by drug abuse. The shredding of the picture of the family represents the fact that families are torn apart if a member of the family chooses to use drugs.
This poster shows a paper shredder destroying a picture of a happy, young family. For many people, having a family is the epitome of the American Dream. Those who see the poster would be horrified by the fact that their families and their way of life could be so greatly affected and “shredded” by the use of drugs. This image will greatly affect ones decision to use drugs. The creator of this poster chose to use the idea of the American Dream to emphasize the effects of drug use because achieving the American Dream is a goal that many people work for. Those who strive for this goal will do their best to ensure that their dream is not broken. The message on this poster is a strong reminder that using drugs will have a great impact on one’s life.
ReplyDeletePrompt #1:
ReplyDeleteThe poster is obvious in its frontal presentation of the first point it hits readers with. The combination of drugs and lives is catastrophic. That is all that it's saying after all. What is implied through the imagery supplements the claim and extends an opportunity for viewers to relate to potential horrors that could plague a victim of drug use. The shredder proves to be a valuable tool. Most may end their processing of this picture as they think of only a picture entering the grinding teeth of a shredder; what is really said is that people are entering the destructive device themselves. A better understanding of the destructive and surely painful experiences that drugs can bring about would be to relate to this idea. Imagining the sleeve of your shirt getting caught in this device as it unceasingly devours toward the tips of your fingers instantly gives you a grave sense of the power this is conveying.
Another implication could reside in the depiction of this picture that has already begun to enter the shredder. Even if the power to the shredder is cut, or a person is caught red handed in an early stage of drug use the damage will remain. The originality of the picture or life cannot be completely restored.
The blur at the top of the page appears to give the sense of speed. We understand shredders to be slow, methodical and accurate devices. As we feed them many valuable documents we find ourselves placing great dependability in the reliable performance of the device. This combination could suggest the speed, potency and accurate destruction of a persons life once drugs have entered the scene.
Prompt #1
ReplyDeleteOne side of the ad is bright and the other side has a dark background, which emphasizes the effect that drugs can have on your life. The picture is of a happy family together but it is being put in to the shredder. I think the ad is trying to portray that drugs can rip your family apart, and destroy your life. The word shred at the bottom of picture almost seems to be a visual metaphor for the effects drugs can have.
I think the purpose of the blurriness at the top of the picture represents the effects that drugs can have on your life. I believe The blurriness is a representation of the life, you had before drugs, fading away.
Prompt #1
ReplyDeleteI think the creator of this poster uses pathos to relate to the audience. The photo of a happy family relates to the audiences emotions. It allows them to see the affects of drugs. Not only does it harm one person, but it also destroys entire families. It also allows the audience to see that drug abuse can happen to anyone. It doesn't have to be someone with nothing to lose, there is no typical person for drug use. The blurriness of the photo shows that with drugs nothing is ever clear. They distort your image of everything.
Prompt 2
ReplyDeleteThe maker of this advertisement uses the Idea of the American dream to emphesize the meaning of the poem. The American dream has many versions, different for different people as we have seen in "fear and loathing" by Hunter Tompson. The maker of this ad chose to portray a family; He/She uses the dream of having a family as motivation for this ad. Furthermore, the author chooses to portray a youg family with a young couple and small child instead of an older, more developed family. This emphasizes the idea that family is a fragile thing to be protected specifically in this ad from drugs. The family that the maker of this ad protrays also shows their target audience. The maker chooses to target the young adults and the poeple with a newly developing family or a young family.
Blog Prompt 1
ReplyDeleteThe creator of the poster uses a picture of a happy family, which is a little odd to me because when I think of drug user, I think of a man who doesn't necessarily take care of himself, wearing baggy clothes, looking for a way to get whatever drug he's on. But the use of the happy family conveys that drugs can affect just about anybody. The happy family might not even be the "drug user(s)", but could be related to a drug user, and consequently, their lives are burdened by the user. The picture also appears to be a little distorted, possibly representing their lives? the drugs could have distorted their happy family life and sent it into the shredder.
The creator of this poster was definitely trying to appeal to the viewer’s pathos. First they depict the classic American family with two parents, a young girl, and a dog. Everyone can relate to this picture since everyone has parents or are parents themselves. The family is also notably young and attractive and represents the ideal of the American family. Typically drug users are depicted as lower class people so this poster is trying to show the viewer that drug use can effect anyone. It is also significant that they included a little girl in the picture. A little girl like that represents pure innocence so to think that her life could be ruined by drugs really plays on the viewer’s emotions. As if a little girl getting shredded was not enough to appeal to the reader’s pathos the creator also included a helpless dog whose life is apparently getting ruined by someone’s drug use.
ReplyDeleteResponses to the discussion questions
ReplyDeleteThe creator of the poster uses a shredding photograph that depicts a family and their dog. Pathos is most certainly used to show that a family is being torn to pieces through the use/abuse (not really specified) of drugs. There is also pathos in the way the family is pictured, as the daughter in the picture is holding the puppy. The image's creator might have selected this photograph to be shredded because of its loose description of the "American dream". Not only is the family generally happy, but the scenery in the background looks to be in a park. This may suggest the couple is in a good-standing relationship, since they are taking their child to the park for an afternoon in the sun. I think the angle at which the shredder is shown is particularly intriguing, as it displays a fraction of the photo being cut into strips. As you look past the current shredded material, there is visible evidence of other photographs that have already been disposed of by the machine/drugs. The emphasis of the image's impression is aided in this angle because the shredder is shown to have done this to many other family photos.