I found this advertisement on the internet by typing in anti drug abuse posters. It appealed to me because I like the overall design of the poster.
Questions:
1) Why does the creator of the poster choose to fade the word "down" in the poster?
2) Why is the color of the words "Drugs" and "Till You're Under the Ground" red?
3) Who is the intended audience for this ad?
4) What does the hand in the poster represent?
Prompt 6
ReplyDeleteThe poster seems to give this idea that drugs will kill people if abuse continues. It seems like other people may not think that drugs will kill people, but only cause magnificent harm. The authors of this poster prepares for the audience to encounter the controversy of this subject by subtly stating "till your under the ground". In our society, the fact that drugs often cause deaths is overlooked by most people - instead the focus is only on the harm drugs causes. The poster shows an idea that over time, drugs can/will kill a person, and it seems like our society often only thinks of the "now", not thinking about the future consequences of their actions and choices.
The hand in the picture is very effective to the argument. It seems as though the hand is portraying a struggle. by using the hand, the poster implicitly says that drugs will take you down and become a struggle in your life. The picture of the hand creates a visual impact on the poster and draws focus to the hand since its the only image on the poster.
Also, the color scheme of the poster is made of blacks, grays, reds, and whites. The color scheme adds to the theme of death and hurt.
I agree that the hand is used to portray a struggle. People will often start drug use with the mentality that they will not get addicted because they will have control over an inanimate object and therefore can stop at anytime. By including the hand as a symbol for the drugs, the poster is personifying the drugs. This causes the viewer of the poster to realize that addiction really is a physical struggle and that starting drug use would result in a battle that would only drag them farther and father down.
DeleteI agree with your perception of how society often overlooks the dangers of using drugs. The creator tries to educate the audience by showing the effects of drugs and what they will lead a person to. As well, I agree with your views on the color scheme of the poster. All the colors used by the author were colors that are related to death and depression. The creator uses these colors to further convey his message of death and the negative effects of drug use and I think he successfully gets his message across to the audience by his underlining messages in the poster.
DeleteBlog Prompt 1)
ReplyDeleteThe author of the picture uses the word "down" because it is a generic term almost always having a negative connotation. The point of this article is to show that drugs lead to death, and death would be a "down" moment in anyone's life. I also think the author uses down literally. The picture shows a hand grabbing from underground, and the word "down" in that sense is used as going down into the ground. Regardless of how the word "down" is used the author strives to associate drugs and the word "down" to convey his message.
Blog Prompt #4
ReplyDeleteThe hand in the poster represents the struggle of the person fighting to stay alive. It is almost like the person is trying to fight the drugs, but they somehow end up bringing him/her down to their level. The hand changes the meaning of the poster. Without the hand, the poster would simply be saying that drugs will overcome your life to the point of death. However, the hand strengthens the message by showing that, even if you fight to not use the drugs, they will drag you down.
I agree that the hand gives the picture a completely different meaning. It allows the audience to see that it doesn't matter how much you try to resist drugs, once your hooked it's almost impossible to stop. I think it also shows that you get addicted to drugs much easier than you would imagine, they aren't something to just play with they completely ruin you.
DeleteI believe the creator of the poster chose to put the words 'DRUGS' and 'TILL YOU'RE UNDER THE GROUND' to emphasize the cause and effect established in the poster, the cause being drugs and the effect being death (till you're under the ground). Also, I think the creator chose to fade the word DOWN to represent that if you abuse drugs, you're life, like the word DOWN, will fade away also. The audience is pretty broad, ranging from teens thinking about and/or using drugs to adults thinking about and/or using drugs. The hand in the poster represents life, and I think that the clawing on the poster is meant to convey that it is a struggle to survive while using/abusing drugs.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that we noticed was that the hand in the picture is leaving behind scratch marks as it is being pulled down into the ground. This may represent the wake of destruction that is left behind the drug abuser as they are slowly killing their self. This destruction might not only affect the person using the drug but the people in the abusers' life.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing noticed is that the word "DOWN" is repeated twice and fades each time it is repeated. This may be a metaphor for how a drug abuser's life slowly fade from their body as they use the drug more and more. The more the life fades from their body, the closer to death they become.
Another thing we noticed were the two tombstones. The tombstones are placed in the traditional family layout, having the two parents behind the offspring, suggesting that maybe the drug habit/abuse can be influenced by your parents. We also noticed that the tombstones are not marked and are not necessarily big, which could suggest that drugs appeal to the more impoverished lifestyle rather than the wealthy lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteThe fading 'DOWN' also could symbolize that a death on drugs is easily forgotten, and outside of family and friends, not remembered.
Also, because the word 'DRUGS' is at the highest point of the poster and in bold red, this could represent a high of some sort. If seen from far away at first glance this could possibly be misconstrued as a positive message, implying that you should take drugs to get high.