Revision of Visual Analysis

Note: In order to improve my visual analysis, I have added more explanatory information about the ad. I have also explained what the ad asks viewers to believe in order to better tie the affect to the desired behavior. Finally, I have improved my explanation regarding how the ad appeals to Aristotle's analysis of the young. Within this paragraph, I have also added more information.

This ad is about the dangers of texting and driving. The ad was created by a company called Vodafone, one of the world’s largest mobile communications companies. I found this ad online at www.adsoftheworld.com, an advertising archive and community. Given the context of the ad, the intended audience includes teenagers and young adults as well as their parents. The ad appeals to a younger generation as it utilizes commonly used abbreviations among youth today. The ad also appeals to their parents as the text at the bottom right encourages the audience to “make sure you and your teenagers stay safe on the road.” In addition, ads like this one always attract the attention of parents, who are constantly worrying about the dangers out in the world that their children are exposed to on a daily basis. The text “to find out more go to vodafone.co.nz/driving” at the bottom right also reveals that the ad is from New Zealand. In New Zealand, drivers drive on the left side of the road. This is why the texting begins in the left lane.

This ad provokes fear as the primary emotion, nervousness and disappointment as secondary emotions, and alarm, anxiety, uneasiness, and worry as tertiary emotions. Primarily, these emotions are provoked by the words. Each word has its own shadow, giving each word its own physical form and showing that each word carries its own danger along with it when typed by the driver. Each word with its own physical form gradually leads the viewer into the wrong lane and eventually to the accident at the power line pole. This progression catches the viewer’s attention and adds suspense. These emotions are also provoked by the trivial nature of the text message itself. Telling a friend that you have been invited to a party isn’t worth having an accident. Finally, the absence of people, cars, and the accident makes the viewer focus completely on the words as the driver would have done in this situation. This provokes the emotions listed as it recreates the immense distraction of texting for the viewer and, consequently, brings the viewer into the experience. The absence also makes the viewer think “what if?” Since the ad works, the exclusion of pedestrians and the accident at the power line pole or a collision with another car that could have raised the pathetic appeal of this ad demonstrates that the issue itself is powerful enough to stand on its own.

The ad is mainly aiming to educate the public about the issue of texting and driving. However, the ad also inspires people to change their behavior if they text and drive and inspires parents to talk to their children if they are drivers. In addition, the ad asks viewers to believe that texting and driving leads to accidents. No one would want to get into an accident and endanger the lives of innocent people. Therefore, the ad will cause viewers to change their behavior if they text and drive or talk to loved ones since they don’t want that to happen to them or their loved ones. Through this ad, viewers see the severity of the issue of texting and driving and that the importance of safety immensely outweighs any text message.

The ad does appeal to some of the stereotypes Aristotle describes in his analysis of the young. Aristotle states in chapter twelve of Rhetoric that “[the young’s] hot tempers and hopeful dispositions make them more courageous than older men are; the hot temper prevents fear, and the hopeful disposition creates confidence.” This analysis is appealed to by the ad as teenagers have hopeful dispositions when they text and drive. These hopeful dispositions make them confident in their abilities and courageous enough to multi-task while driving. They often think that nothing like what is depicted within this ad will ever happen to them. The “expectation of good makes [them] confident.” As I thought of my own stereotypical characteristics of the young, I thought of carelessness. Aristotle does not mention anything about carelessness in Rhetoric, but this characteristic is clearly cautioned against by this ad. Teenagers are often careless when they drive as they always think they have a good handle on their driving situation. There are also ideas and symbols within the ad that resonate with certain segments of the population in a particular way. For example, the commonly used abbreviations resonate with the younger generation who uses them when they chat online or via text messages. The ideas of safety and possible danger on the road resonate with parents as these ideas are very significant to them.

Texting and driving can be just as dangerous as drinking and driving. Therefore, the pathetic appeal of this ad is necessary in order to impact those who do text and drive.