I found this ad by searching "anti-drug ad's" in Google. I choose this ad because I feel like it does not have the same message most anti-drugs ad's have. Most ad's just show users the dangers that drugs have on them. This ad shows them that not only does using drugs personally affect them but affects all of the people that surround them in their everyday life.
1. How does the author use pathos to influence the audience?
2. What do all the pictures on the boys head represent?
3. At the bottom of the ad above the main caption the words "Abuse, Violence, Traffic Accidents, Injury at work, Crimes" are present. What do you think these words represent? Why are they affiliated with a drug ad?
4. Do you believe this ad is targeted more at drug users? Or people who are affected by those who do drugs?
5. In what ways does seeing the boy in the ad doing drugs affect the people who are viewing the ad?
Blog Prompt #1
ReplyDeleteThis picture is dark, portraying a sad or unfortunate pathos. According to the words at the bottom of the picture, the people depicted in his head are the people that his drug use is also affecting. As he sniffs drugs off of his wallet with the help of paper money, the author portrays the idea that money is going towards drug use.The author portrays through the placement of the drugs on the wallet and the use of the money that drugs are not only negative for the body, but also for the financial situation. Because of all the people shown in the boy's head along with the words shown at the bottom of the picture, the author also claims that drugs are negative for social situations.
Prompt 3
ReplyDeleteThe words above the main caption implicitly propose the idea that people who are doing drugs will perform these actions. I think these words are associated with the drug ad because these are some things people do when they are using a drug. Often times, drug use is associated with abuse situations, car accidents, crimes, or violence. I believe these words connect to the pathos of the ad. When people see this ad and read the words above the main caption, the readers may think of someone they know who has been affected by one or more of the actions listed above because of the abuse of a substance. This idea also adds to the overall theme of the ad that drugs do not just hurt the people who use them.
Blog Prompt #1
ReplyDeleteThe use of the various pictures places this apparent user into a social context. Drug users' social connections are often stereotyped to be people that are similar to themselves. This ad would suggest that this may not be entirely true. I offer that the people depicted by the pictures are not fellow users or dealers. The logic doesn't add up if it were, does one user doing drugs hurt another who also participates? I suppose that could be argued depending on which lens you're looking through. If you're looking at trying to get everyone clean then sure, one may hurt the other. If you're looking at the more obvious goal of both users, one is not harming the other by consuming. By viewing drug use as not harming fellow drug users this picture displays what can often be overlooked and forfeited. To this end, there are people who care about the drug users, people who are of positive character and do not simply shun the act but will always and continually be hurt every time a drug is used by the person these people care for in some regard.
The text itself also seems to imply a message. It's written "Drugs doesn't only hurt those who use them."
While that sends a fairly obvious message itself I find that the wording choice is of further interest. Expanded it reads "Drugs does not only hurt those who use them." This statement surely offers a thought, but it's logical composition leaves one wondering what the other half of the sentence is. In example, "The cow does not eat," begs the question why, or what can we do to fix it? When I read their statement I would expect to see something like "Drugs does not only hurt those who use them, they also hurt XYZ or because XYZ." I think it's a clever and intentional word choice that leaves the back end of thought open, and in a sense allows the subconscious to whisper in our own ear when we read this for ourselves.
Prompt 5
ReplyDeleteI think adolescents are much easier to be influenced by their peers taking drugs around them than adults, because they have less control of themselves and more confused about what they should do or not than other age groups. So the main audience may be teenagers who are surrounded with a group of friends being addicted to drugs or pots. As the saying goes, bad habits are always easier to be spread out then good ones.Ultimately, the words in the bottom of the picture: "drugs doesn't only hurt those who use them", also shows the heavy negative influences of young drug abusers to their friends. Moreover, when parents see this picture, they will quickly find how vulnerable their children will be in such a dangerous surroundings. It's hard to keep yourself and be not affected when you in a group where people do the same thing--addicting drugs. The bad influence will be extended to one after another, such as a group of friends showing up in the man's brain, there will be a chain reaction among vulnerable adolescents.
I agree, I think this post is giving the message that teens are easily peer pressured. I think it's trying to inform teens that peer pressure isn't necessarily a good thing, and that doing what everyone else is doing will always make you look cool. It's trying to convey the message that drugs can in fact ruin your life as opposed to making you look better within your friend group.
DeleteWhie I agree that teens could be one possible audience,the poster could also be appealing to the age group of 25-30. One reason is that the man in the poster appears to be slightly older since he has facial hair and in my opinion does not look like a typical teenager. I also feel that the text and picture would appeal more to a young adult than to a teen. The main visual message of the poster is that drugs do not only affect the user, but also the people they interact with. Teens tend to be self centered and therefore I feel that a poster relating to the direct effects drugs would have on their own life would be more effective.People in the age range of 25-30 are probably starting to settle down and start families and this poster reminds them that if they use drugs it doesn't only affect them. The text also states that drug use can cause work injuries. I don't think that this is a primary concern of adolescents but it would be a huge concern of a person living on their own and potentially feeding a family.
DeleteThe presented words "Abuse, Violence, Traffic Accidents, Injury at work, Crimes" are all negative effects of being addicted to drugs. When a person begins to take drugs, his or her other aspects in life will be surely influenced heavily. That is a chain reaction, doing what shoud not be done must cause another bad results. If the main targeted audience are people who are easily influenced by their addicted friends, these heavy-results words can be seen a kind of alarm to them. Not only does this ad show how people will be influenced by their peers to begin taking drugs, but it also infers the a chain consequences of being addicted to drug.
ReplyDeletePrompt 1
ReplyDeleteThe visual elements of this ad depict, implicitly and explicitly, several different aspects and issues of drug addiction. When looking at the ad the most striking element I noticed was the pictures of of the individuals in the mind of the drug user. The pictures are clearly representing the people referred to in the caption who get hurt secondarily due to drug use. These pictures also seem to hold a sense of irony. The drug user clear has the individuals 'on his mind' and yet is still using drugs. This seems to have a representation of the realization of the pain that the drug user is causing the people around him and yet he us unable to pull away from drug use. This leads to a tension between the draw of drug use and the guilt of the pain it causes not only the user but the people around him. Additionally, this tension points out the alteration of priorities of a drug user. What once was most important in his life, such as friends and family, becomes secondary to drug use. The way the drug user in this picture is depicted, overcast by shadow and eyes looking downward, seems to imply a sense of shame of the people he knows he is hurting and yet is unable to pull away from in order to stop hurting them.
Blog Prompt #1
ReplyDeleteThe visual element of looking inside the man in the image strikes one as being a look at someone on the inside, without the filters of one's outside image. Since this is an anti-drug poster, promoting drugs to be out of one's life altogether seems to be a theme, as some people choose to do drugs in private. Also, the use of the "Polaroids" as this hypothetical person's social circle that composes the shape of a brain seem to say that no matter where the drugs are used, this person will have a connection between the drugs and his peers. A different way to view the pictures in his head is that they are memories that are still present in his mind, but are threatened to be erased by continuing these habits. Consequentially, the ad is saying there is a good possibility that he'll lose those connections. With the addition of the text, the context of the images becomes impersonal. Most often, traffic accidents and petty crimes include victims you have never had contact with beforehand.
This ad makes people not take the anti drug message seriously for a few reasons. One being the improper or at least seemingly improper use of grammar. This takes away the ethos of the ad. Also the people in the persons head are small and impossible to see. This makes them seem inconsequential and thus destroys the whole use of pathos in the ad.
ReplyDelete