Social Action CampaignsJess Stanton

This poster has been made to raise awareness of the truth about animals’ lives in circuses as the majority of people will not know what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ of these shows. The second purpose of this poster is to change people’s attitudes towards circuses and to put them off going to a show where the animals are kept in cages, as shown on the poster. As a result of this the audience would realise what the circuses are doing isn’t right or fair towards the animals. There are several different organisations on the poster meaning this is only one campaign to stop animal cruelty as a whole although specifically in circuses; so another purpose of the campaign is to bring about local, national and global change as this problem is current in many places and happening in circuses worldwide. The writing in the poster goes on to say all of the features of the circus that normally isn’t seen, mostly because of the conditions the animals are in, giving the campaign the purpose of providing information as a way of aiding other purposes such as making people aware.

 Impact:In 2014, the majority of the Social Democratic Party (PSD-CDS) in the Portuguese Parliament pushed to get a law informing rules on animal welfare. The new legislations presents ‘heavy penalties, including prison and daily fines (as yet undisclosed) for those to have mistreated or abandoned a pet animal, while also granting more right to animal protection associations.’

The poster uses techniques such as featuring popular language such as catch phrases and fonts associated with circuses all the way through the text however as a negative to entice the audience into reading it and to make them that what they’re seeing isn’t humane.

By using techniques of powerful imagery of a monkey, a popular animal found in the circus behind bars, it conveys to the audience that the monkey is trapped and is not in a place where it belongs and put in a situation that it shouldn’t be in.

The monkey in the frame is very sharp and has hard tones making the image more hard hitting. The bars on the cage, the monkey taking up a large part of the frame and the picture cropped so tightly all contribute to the idea that the cage is small. The black background gives the impression that the cage is empty other than the monkey.

Website links and organisation logos are presented at the bottom of the poster as a way for the audience to find out more about the campaign helping the purpose of giving out information as a way of aiding other purposes too such as making people aware.

The text is very truthful and direct to the audience making it harder hitting as it lists everything wrong happening in a circus in a way which people would advertise the shows and so the audience realise what they are reading is what they are seeing. This helps support the purpose of raising people’s awareness and the harsh language used also aids the purpose of changing attitudes and that it’s not a form of entertainment.

The face painting on the monkey, in the similar style of a sad faced clown’s appearance, shows the reader that monkeys, and various other animals are being used as performing acts however are not in a place where they belong, this message is helped with the bold heading on the poster ‘Animas are not clowns’ which also helps portray the monkey as human.

The Black Fish is an international charity that works to stop illegal overfishing. With the aid of modern technology and over 30 international staff, the organisation brings together people in the hopes of protecting the oceans through enforcement of environmental regulations. One of the purposes of the charity is to bring about local, national and global change with the help of ‘28 projects in 12 countries around Europe…and countless volunteers and supporters around the world.’ (http://theblackfish.org) As well as the purpose for the campaign to change people’s attitudes towards illegal fishing, The Black Fish have a purpose of raising awareness of illegal fishing and using animals for entertainment by investigating, educating and taking non-violent direct action in order to maintain a future for the world’s marine life, this is how they are also fulfilling the purpose of providing information to that campaign and a way they are achieving both these purposes is with their shop. By selling badges, bags and t-shirts, not only is the charity being promoted everyday, 100% of the proceeds go towards the charity.

Another purpose the campaign achieves is to infiltrate mainstream media due to a documentary named ‘Blackfish’ being created in July of 2013 which follows the actions of a male Orca ‘Tilikum’ who is responsible for the deaths of three individuals since being first held captive there in 1883. Another purpose of the campaign is to challenge dominant representations, as not many people are aware of what illegal actions are being committed in the earth’s oceans out of the public eye. The Black Fish charity achieves this by setting up global tours and rally up support for its campaigns to aim to also change people’s opinions on illegal fishing once they are made aware that it is happening all around the world.

Although The Black fish do not have any of their own campaign adverts, they, along with the Orca Coalition have founded seven other organisations with the aim to save marine life therefore several campaigns advertise and make the public aware of the harsh conditions Killer Whales are being kept in purely for entertainment, this aids the purpose of bringing about local, national and global change.

Although there is no written information, the rope around the killer whale acts as information to the reader as when they see the image they will see how whales are caught in the wild.

The rhetorical questions leaves the reader inquisitive and makes them think to themselves what the question is asking and partly makes them aware of what they are really seeing.

The whole poster is in dark colours however the red text not only makes the writing stand out against the plain background but is also used to signify blood and pain, something that shouldn’t be associated with animals and entertainment.

The language used, for instance ‘Killer’ is using the name of the animal with what people are getting from it, however it juxtaposes the idea of gaining profit which is good to the act of killing animals which is bad. As the fonts is all capitals, it makes all the text stand out.

 Impact:The campaign is still very recent and is still trying to make everyone aware of the cruelty behind animal entertainment and illegal fishing. However it has had great impact on the media as $2.3 million was raised from the release of the film and has played a major role in effecting other releases over the past couple of years with scene from films involving sea world being cut from the movies. In November of 2014, SeaWorld revealed they had suffered a $15.9 million loss and from 2014-15, profits had fallen ‘84% from $37.4 million to $5.8 million. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaWorld#Blackfish_film) The charity is still expanding and is gaining more media coverage therefore is starting to become recognized more in the mainstream media. Radio interviews and articles have been created explaining the charities morals and aims for the marine life future which in turn is increasing the whereabouts of the campaign and its gaining more recognition.

Barak Obama’s 2008 striking campaign has become one of the most memorable presidential campaigns. The campaign has the purposes to change voting behaviour in order for people to vote for him to become the next president as well as bring about local, global and national change. As well as getting people to vote for him, first he must campaign to people who aren’t used of voting and to make them understand and make them aware of what his policies are and if they benefit them, thus has to appeal to all ages meaning another purpose may be that he has to change people’s attitudes of him.

Impact:From when the campaign for Barack Obama to become president started in 2007, he has a supportive network of people donating for his fundraisers in order for him to gain more votes to win and as of ‘May 2012 Obama and his team have held over 130 fundraisers.’ When he announced his candidacy on 4th April 2011 over 23,000 donations of $200 or under had been made online in the first 24 hours. By the second quarter of 2011 more than 550,000 individuals donated towards the campaign, considerably higher than his 2008 campaign where there was 180,000 donations in the first half of 2007. As of 31st March 2012 the campaign had raised $191.7 million. When a fundraiser was held in May of 2012 it was estimated to raise $10 million however this was quickly broken and reached over $15 million, a lot of which people consider from the LGBT community as this was shortly after Barack Obama made his announcement that he supports same sex marriage. Even though a purpose of the campaign will have been to infiltrate the media to promote the campaign for Barack Obama to become president, an impact, which was not expected at first but was a major factor to the success of the poster was that many seemed to make parodies of the poster. The public would take the poster and Photoshop different people’s faces on with different slogans, which naturally drew attention to the original campaign and is still a popular meme on the internet today.

The figures on the following slide show the early impact of the Obama Administration.

http://www.factcheck.org/2015/04/obamas-numbers-april-2015-update/

The campaign isn’t too complicated and is not overfilled with text meaning it will appeal to everyone eligible to vote.

The campaign also features his logo of the O taken from his name with the stripes from the American flag and the idea of a rising sun representing a new day, which evokes a new sense of hope thus making the main text for his campaign poster.

The only colours on the poster are red white and blue which reminds the reader that they are the colours of the United States of America showing the patriotism and that all he does will be for the country.

The poster is not just in one colour, symbolizing the diversity of the colour scheme similarly to the diversity of the USA.

Even though there isn’t much writing the text on the poster is positive and the font is all in capitals making it stand out.

The image on the campaign is very bold and hard-hitting and shows him looking confident and he knows what he is doing and that he is full of ‘hope.’

 Over the years men’s health is becoming more of a topic, which cannot be ignored. ‘Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide and the number of cases is expected to almost double to 1.7 million cases by 2030.’ (https://uk.movember.com/programs/cause) Many think it is in the male nature to ignore health problems however with prostate cancer being the 4 th most common cause of cancer death in the UK Movember aim to reduce the number of deaths from 35 for every 100,000 males in the UK. (http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/prostate-cancer/mortality#heading-Zero) This campaign helps to make males aware of what can happen if regular checkups are not made. Another purpose of the campaign is to build relationships with subjects which allows people to have an understanding on the issue so that they are more widely discussed thus increasing the number of males who have regular health checkups. One of their main purposes for this campaign is to strengthen community ties and for males to come together and support the community so that more males are aware of the dangers if a healthy lifestyle isn’t maintained. Movember is a charity which is not only in the UK but also active in America with a purpose to bring about global change as well as national and local.

 Impact:Since the charity was established in 2003, the number of ‘Mo Bros’ and ‘Mo Sista’ has risen from just 5 to over 5 million today from all over the world including participating countries such as ‘Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.’ As a result of the campaign, ‘£402 million has been raised since 2003’ which has ‘funded 832 men’s health projects’ over the past 12 years. The charity has also been ‘ranked 72nd out of the top 500 NGOs (Non-governmental organisations) in the world.’ (https://uk.movember.com/about/history#2014) The organisation has built up a following and now has several celebrity ambassadors including rapper Snoop Dog, indie band Foster the People, well known documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock and many of the Australian Rugby union team players. 

By using popular, more informal but modern language makes the poster appeal to younger members in the campaigns target audience, increasing who the campaign will be aimed towards.

Because the campaign is tackling a serious matter, parts of the text are very hard hitting in order to get the message across.

The Movember charity logo has been included as an extra source of information. If someone sees the poster they know what organisation is behind it and they can visit the website or look up the logo to find out more.

The campaign is in monochrome making the appearance unusual as most are in colour. The reader is also not detracted from the important message by any vibrant colour of the campaign.

Your diet and lifestyle can dramatically influence your health. Regardless of age, the most important thing you can do is stay healthy.

The man on the campaign’s expression is happy, showing the audience that there are positives to take from the poster and that ultimately it is advice for them to take in order for them to live a longer and healthier lifestyle.

 Deaffest is a Deaf Film and Television festival created in 2005 with a purpose to give deaf filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their talents. As well as allowing deaf filmmakers the chance to show their work it also has a purpose to raise awareness of the festival to make it more in the public eye and to get more people to change their attitudes towards deaf people and also provide information on the hearing impaired and be shown that deaf people can achieve their dreams and are just as capable as anyone else. Another purpose of the campaign is to strengthen community ties and for people to come together to support the deaf community as well as challenging dominant representations which can also help to change people’s attitudes towards the deaf. Another purpose of Deaffest is to infiltrate mainstream media, which was achieved when winners of the festival have had their films shown at UK and international film festivals. As people may not have an understanding of hearing impaired people or Deaffest’s aims, a purpose set out by the campaign is to build a relationship with the subjects to aid people’s understanding of the issue. The final purpose of Deaffest is to create access to media production for non-traditional groups which they achieve because it is a film and TV festival and so are setting up platforms for people with hard of hearing.

Impact: Deaffest not only celebrates local filmmakers but deaf filmmakers from all over the world

have taken part in the deaf led festival making the festival known worldwide. As a result of this, more people are now aware of Deaffest and past winner including ‘Bim Ajadi, Stephen Collins and Ted Evans independently produced their own film, which later showcased at both UK and international film festivals. ‘ (http://deaffest.co.uk/about/about-deaffest/ )

 

The colour scheme is black and white meaning no bright colours will draw away people’s attention; their full focus will be on the text. White writing on a black background also stands out well will make it easy to read from any distance too. 

The organisation logo has been placed right in the centre of the campaign poster to make it bold and grab the audience’s attention. A technique in this is that they have made the logo very iconic and something which links straight to being deaf giving the audience extra information in less words. 

The lack of text on the poster leaves the audience wanting to find out more and so leads them to visit the website.   

The website featured on the campaign as a source of information for the audience when they see this poster which helps to achieve the purpose of raising awareness, as the target audience can visit the website to find out more.

The statement at the top of the poster ‘The UKs leading Deaf-led film & arts festival’ provides information for the audience by claiming something so big and also may help to change attitudes as it has a positive status. 

The fact it is the festival’s 10th Anniversary makes it all the more special and so is featured on the poster, gives the reader some context to the festival and helps achieve the purpose of making people aware and the target audience will realise it has been around for a decade. 

The colours are bright and so will draw attention to the poster. The dark and light blue in the background not only adds to the poster being visually stimulating to look at but also makes the text stand out on the poster making it easy for the audience to pick out key information.   

It is designed with a font, which looks like one that would be used on a magic show, which establishes that the festival will be good, and a lot of fun much like a magic show. 

The date of the festival and the festival website have been included on the poster to help give out more information if the reader wishes to find out more. This can also help the reader become aware of the organisation.  

The bold hands on the magician have been made the way to make the audience aware that it about the deaf community which also helps tie in the idea of sign language and the organisations logo even though it is not on the poster.