Introduction
In modern society, there are many ways to raise a particular social problem to catalyze the process of finding its solution. One of these tools is visual rhetoric, which consists in building communication with the audience through visual aspects, such as advertisements, pictures in magazines, or on the Internet. All of them are united by the goal of spreading essential knowledge to raise awareness about the issue. Therefore, this work will explore visual rhetoric using the example of advertising from the Publicis Singapore created for Crisis Relief Singapore as an example of the degree of persuasion on the target audience.
Visual Rhetoric
Before proceeding to the analysis of print ads, it is necessary to gain an understanding of what visual rhetoric is. Sources note that “Visual rhetoric uses images of people or objects, beyond their familiar image to impress, to attract attention, and to persuade viewers” (Doan 31). Thus, this technique helps to convey very concisely, but at the same time effectively, and convey the main idea to the viewer, while almost, and in some cases wholly, without using text. This method is unique and essential to study as it helps to determine the success of other print ads and understand how to improve communication with the intended audience.
This academic paper will consider the selected example of visual rhetoric, which is one of the instances of successful transmission of the problem. The advertisement of the Publicis Singapore created for Crisis Relief Singapore is an image of the shocking and terrifying consequences of such disasters as earthquakes, floods, and war. Moreover, each of the advertising posters depicts a child injured on it, which shows a lot of hands depicting the famous gesture in social media. This is done with a messenger that the marks like on social networks on this kind of advertising companies cannot do anything useful and bring something positive to the lives of the victims. Thus, the main goal of this print ad is to encourage people to act and help each other in difficult situations.
The central theme of this part of the advertisement raises the topic of assisting and spreading awareness about the problems of people in different countries and how much people are willing to help others. The need to implement such a measure was since sometimes, even despite a sufficiently large amount of problem coverage in the social network, it does not receive proper recognition from the government. Therefore, the advertising company also emphasizes that everything may not be as good and joyful as it seems in the virtual world and that simple virtual things are not taken into account in real life. With the help of this print advertisement, Crisis Relief Singapore had a desire to convey to the target audience a message about the importance of acting, especially when it comes to such terrible and destructive events like natural disasters or military actions.
Because of the image of the horrific consequences of disasters, it becomes the primary tool for making sense of this print advertising. The image is presented to the audience in dark gray and black tones, which gives strength and sadness to the depicted scenes. The factor that gets a robust response is that the ad depicts children whose destinies may have been wholly destroyed. This aspect causes an overwhelming number of emotions of the public. It is worth noting that the target audience of these images is mostly grown-up, who are regular Internet users. However, it can also be teenagers, since role-players should educate awareness of global severe problems starting from a reasonably early age. In addition, it is worth noting that the contrast created between the innocence of children and the darkness and monochrome of the depicted picture makes this ad an excellent example for studying the persuasive power of such an advertisement. Moreover, the contrast here also manifests itself in the sadness of the events presented and the presence of multiple encouraging gestures bearing a positive connotation.
In addition, such a vital function in visuals as ethos also takes place in the selected advertising company. Consequently, when viewing it, such an ethical problem as responsibility and the desire of people to be helpful to those who are faced with severe and difficult life situations is touched upon. Moreover, it can cause such a problem as minimizing the perception of depicted catastrophes, that is, reducing the susceptibility of society to such events. This can have dire consequences not only for individuals who have survived the catastrophes under study but also for the whole society and the world. This print ad has one phrase in itself, which carries a social context and importance. The text reads “Liking isn’t helping”, which fully conveys the whole essence of the examined problem (McGrath para. 1). The creators directly say that the marks of encouragement in social networks cannot help people who are suffering in any way.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this work considered the effectiveness of using visual rhetoric to convey information about a particular problem to a targeted audience. As an example, an advertisement was chosen by the Crisis Relief Singapore, which developed an eye-catching print ad fundamental purpose of raising the topic of concern for others and the fakeness of the virtual world. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the creators of print ad desired to see a world in which people understand how their decisions can affect other people’s life and the importance of taking action.
Works Cited
Doan, Vu. “Rhetoric in Advertising.” VNU Journal of Science: Policy and Management Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, 2017, pp. 30-35.
McGrath, Abigail. “Social Marketing Example #11: Crisis Relief-Liking Isn’t Helping.” Brogan Partners, Web.