Week 5: Reading Response 3

Making a Visual Argument: Public Service Campaigns Use Language to Send a Message
National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

4. Who are the multiple audiences for the "i am my anti-drug" campaign? Whom do they address, invoke, are effective and why?

The audiences the campaign are obviously addressing are the youth of America. The visual argument is well displayed because it uses young adults, and a ruined bicycle tire to help address each of the areas identified on the public campaign. Courage, regret, and i am my own inti-drug subcategories all go along with the visual argument and incorporate the main theme, the anti-drug.

I believe they would be effective because it depicts different racial groups and sends a message of hope. The message of hope infers indirectly or directly that there are opportunities important to do in life, like having a good education, being in sports, or doing things you enjoy. The other side, the regret message, is a strong message that one can have regrets such as relating to someone getting hurt or killed due to bad decision making when using drugs. Also, the visual sends a message to the adults of America that not all kids or youth are drug users and not to label not only youth, but ethnicity as well. The least effective in my opinion is the courage message because at my first glance I thought it was implying to abstinence.

Overall, the visuals were excellent and can relate to how youth interact with technology in our world today, specifically the small "i" used in the message. For example, i phone, etc. I enjoyed studying the visuals argument and reading into each one of the messages it presents.