Racial Discrimination and Social Advertising Argumentative Essay Sample

Racial Discrimination as a Subject of Social Advertising

It is widely accepted that advertising in any form influences a person’s choice. However, there are different types of advertisements. It is worth pointing out that social advertisements are very popular in the contemporary world due to the function they perform and the effects they exert on a person’s consciousness. “Your color skin shouldn’t dictate your future” is a social didactic advertisement directed at both the authorities and ordinary people, which appeals to the spectator’s emotions by means of addressing a cross-cultural and racial issue. Social advertising can be defined as a form of advertising communication, the purpose of which is to transfer socially significant information aimed at developing and changing public opinion, social norms and behaviors. The function of such communication manifests in the involvement of public members in solving social problems. Presumably, “Your color skin shouldn’t dictate your future” is a well-balanced social advertisement that preserves a didactic message and is organized according to the rhetorical norms of ethos, pathos and logos, which ensure the implementation of its main functions.

Before dwelling upon the particular advertisement, it is reasonable to mention some of the general information concerning social advertising. At present stage, advertising have become the general source of information about certain products and services. Most of the scholars consider it to be one of the most powerful means of influence on the public consciousness.

Social advertising seems to be an important factor in the formation of a personality’s behavior. The principal function of social advertising consists in addressing social problems crucial for the society and their indirect regulation. Most frequently, the major means of influence regarding social advertising include such components as text, slogan, image and representation. Modern advertising is generally focused on meeting cultural needs of the population. It implements certain values and standards, claiming the role of human behavior that must be followed. Each advertiser’s dream is to create a “viral” advertising product: the image or video shared on social networks, put on websites and blogs, or a slogan, poster, movie, which people would share with each other.

Shock Methods in Modern Advertising

Advertisers use the latest achievements of psychology and other sciences to gain the attention of the public. It has long been established that the strongest negative emotions, such as fear, disgust, anger and hatred matter in social advertising. Therefore, the most widely used technique to draw attention of the commercials is to use the so-called shock methods. Such advertisements often become “viral”. The most interesting achievements of social advertising can be attributed to the advertisers who deal with presenting the environmental problems and discrimination of women. The main objectives of such campaigns are to admit that the problem exists at a societal level and it should be immediately solved.

“Your color skin shouldn’t dictate your future” is one of the viral social advertisements due to the reason that it corresponds to the norms of successful social advertising. Firstly, it is necessary to point out that the chosen advertisement highly promotes positive racial behavior, which means that people should not have any prejudices towards other people’s skin color. Discrimination is one of the central issues raised in the image. However, the image also addresses the matter of poverty and its links to racial discrimination.

The shock method of such advertisement is actually the portrayal of children, who are differentiated by their race. There are three boxes with three children in them. However, one child seems to be Afro-American. While two others are more like ordinary babies in the diapers, the Afro-American baby is dressed like a cleaner. By taking the photos of babies, advertisers usually aim at showing to the public that the problem should be eradicated in childhood. Interestingly, by making such image, advertisers refer both to the Afro-American people, parents in particular, who should raise their babies eliminating racial discrimination and increasing the baby’s self-appraisal. Anyway, not only racial discrimination can be seen in the advertisement. “Your color skin shouldn’t dictate your future” indirectly refers to all kinds of discrimination. Nowadays, in the United States of America, Latinos are discriminated alongside with African-Americans. Nevertheless, the striking message of the advertisement is not to let the existing discrimination influence your
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