Monday, February 4, 2013

Week 1: Anti-Bath salts navy ad

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-01-05-navyposter.jpg

10 comments:

  1. I am responding to this post using blog prompt 1. The creators of this advertisement used several visual cues to pass along their message of the dangers of bath salts. Viewers are immediately drawn to the man looking into the mirror because it is the largest most central image of the advertisement. The image in the mirror shows a man with dark red piercing eyes. The possessed image implies that the man sees himself as a drug-crazed person rather than the one a normal one with a popular haircut that he appears as.
    The blurred image on the left of what appears to be a hallway may connect to the delusions stated in the effects of using bath salts. Also, the cracked walls on the right side of the advertisement continue to influence the viewer by associating the drug with destruction. All these images do not go together for any reason, so the ad may be intended to show confusion and disorientation similar to the drug.
    The way words appear are also revealing in this advertisement. All of the words on the bottom of the advertisement are written in dark colors with distinct fonts possibly to show the fear and power that the drug represents. The creators of the advertisement also show the words "Emergency" and "Caution" faded out in the corner. The advertisement is clearly intended to inflict fear and intimidation so that people, especially young men, steer away from bath salts.

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    1. In response to Adam Carron's comment, I feel that he analyzed this advertisement superbly. Clearly, this advertisement is attempting to portray the dangers that go along with the recreational use of bath salts. Whether it is the mirrored image of a crazed man or the blurred image of a hospital hallway to the left, I feel that nothing is as powerful as the quote at the bottom, which states, "It's not a fad... It's a nightmare." This quote strives to disperse any rumors about bath salts by stating that it is nothing short of a "nightmare" while induced in an elated state. Although this advertisement may take its message a little bit too far, which may distract its viewers away from the message itself, it gets the point across.

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    2. I agree that the image of the man in the mirror is the focal point in this picture. There is a great contrast between the dark background in the mirror and the white, zombie-like skin of the man. His reflection is used to show the horror he is facing as he is on bath salts.
      The hallway actually looks like an emergency room, so rather than expressing confusion, so they are trying to communicate the dangers of using the drug. If a person uses this drug they may end up being hospitalized, and the ad is trying to show this by using the hospital image.
      I agree that the font and color combinations used in this ad are interesting. Aside from the words mentioned in the corner, the words "bath salts" are written in a large font and the coloring inside of the letters appears to be dirty. It almost looks like a font that could be used for the title of a zombie video game.

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  2. I am agree with Adam's idea that the image looks give a lot of imagination space for audience. Personally I think the mirror here can be a tool to creat contrast to the real look of this man, I can imagine his feeling may anxious, suripise or unexpected scared. The back side of this man looks like normal that make me feel more close to our life, the drug salt can threat me. I very like the idea of this image, can give audience strongly impact as I never feel before. Also in this image show he saw himself in the mirror his face looks very terrible, that can be the most people's reaction after get drugs. That situation is similar when he heard friends talk or naibor's talk about how bad his addiction to drugs behavior is.

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    1. I think Zi brings up a good point in that the image that the boy sees in the mirror terrifying. Many people use drugs to avoid feeling a certain way or to get rid of certain feelings. The image in the mirror can represent the person that the boy is trying to get away from by using drugs. The image is vivid and frightening enough to deter people away from using drugs such as bath salts.

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  3. I am responding to prompt number 4.

    This author's ethos is reasonably obvious in the advertisement. As the US Navy, they automatically receive credibility; however, it's their decision to play this up or down. In this PSA they've played it up. They use two official seals to evoke this status. They also use several visual cues to call up the idea of their official credibility: block-type fonts, solid-looking gray walls, an image of a clean hallway.

    This ethos makes the PSA seem more official and clear. It's obvious that the author wants to use his/her authority to seem to be "bigger," if you will, than bath salts (which are denigrated with the adjective "nightmare").

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  4. To response Adam, I strongly agree that this Ad obviously indicates the negative point of view of bath salt. The main black ground gives us a sense of consternation and the man in mirror looks so frightened because he seems in two different world, one is the real world and the other one is "zombie-like" world. At the bottom of this Ad, there is a sentence,"it's not a fad, it's a nightmare." We can totally figure out the author's ethos.

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  5. Prompt Number 1.
    The chosen advertisement is very visual based as it is trying to show the stance that the navy has taken against bath salts. The ad suggests that the navy is in fact against bath salts which can be inferred from the message presented at the bottom and the image of a man's face in a mirror. The message written, "Bath Salts. It's not a fad, it's a nightmare." This message and the warnings and side effects given both do not promote anything positive or beneficial of bath salts. The main focal point is the image of a man's distorted face in a mirror that is the reflection of an otherwise "normal" head. Showing an altered image of the man who the viewer would assume to be otherwise normal shows the horrors that can come from using bath salts. All of the elements shown within the advertisement combine to show the negative view the navy has on bath salts.

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  6. Use blog prompt number 1. This advertisement is mainly composed of three parts of images and a paragraph of announcemnet. The main part of the image is a man looking at the a mirror with a scared face, the face can show his mental activity, the bloody eyes and the big mouth show that he is kind of crazy and very aggressive now. And the black background of the mirror can show the guresome mental enviroment. The left side picture show a blurred room which means that he is not clear and can not see things clearly after taking the bath salts. The saw-toothed connection of the two image shows that he is not a complete person mentally and physically after taking the bath salts. The cracked wall on the other side may be caused by the man after taking the drug, which shows the danger of the bath salts.

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    1. I am responding to shang. I agree that the jagged joining of the images creates the assumption that he is not all together mentally. This combined with the blurred vision of an emergency room causes the observer to assume that the person shown is in serious physical danger. This is a very strong rhetorical strategy because it creates a fear in the observer regarding bath salts.

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