Analysis Of “Stick To The Speed Limit” Advertisement
Getting hit by a car is the third leading cause of deaths among kids. Kids’ attention span is so short can easily get distracted. The injuries are more intense because of how little their body is. Going over the speed limit and kids not seeing the cars is a deadly situation just waiting to occur. Nearly 1. 3 million people die from a result of someone speeding each year. More then half of all road deaths are minors getting injured.
The picture used pathos because kids dying appeals to many emotions. The advertisement shows a cute little boy drawing out his own death with chalk. It looked like a busy road due to the many cars that were parked. Also, he was in the middle of the road and the meaning behind it seemed like he was distracted so he was not looking in his surroundings. At the bottom of the image, it has some text that says “Stick to the speed limit”. Next to that text was the number thirty with a circle around it indicating that was the speed limit. If someone was going over the speed limit since the little boy was distracted that would be a fatal accident.
The audience that might appeal the most to this is parents because they would have kids on their own. Anyone who is a normal speeder this would appeal to. The audience, in general, is drivers and parents. This has been a big problem and when you discuss the consequences of speeding and how you could take an innocent child life away you start to watch your actions. The image was just implying that a little boy life was in safety and going off the words from the bottom you would have noticed him if you were going the speed limit. So this just goes to show your actions can affect other peoples lives in a negative aspect.
My general reaction was the little boy was going to get hurt if he does not move out of the way. It made me feel sad and aware, it reminded me of any time I have been in the car with someone speeding because I would never want to injure anybody by not going the speed limit. As a teenager I have been told “No place you are headed to is worth anybody's life” and I always keep that into mind. The image was meant to make you aware of the dangers and for you to focus on the little boy and what he was drawing. The drawing represented his upcoming death for the cars.
Another great aspect was this was so realistic because this happens all of the time. A strategy used to reach the audience was pathos because the argument was based on emotions and sympathy. Many advertisements try to appeal to your emotions so that you can feel bad and want to stop whatever bad happening. Draw your attention to the image again who would not feel an intense emotion for the young kid. Due to the fact that human emotions change how you would deal with every situation the image showed great aspects to prove that. In addition to this if you were driving after seeing the image you would watch your speed.
The use of pathos was drawing the audience in to help understand the argument that speeding is wrong and dangerous. It was effective in persuading the audience to agree with our argument. An extremely motivating way to stop you from driving too fast is someone’s life even that a child's life. This is even more serious if you have read some background information on how many deaths there have been. Someone that has not read on it might not understand the seriousness of this topic. Way more kids than you think are losing their lives due to irresponsible drivers. The advertisement causes drivers that speed to feel guilty about this. The effect this has on viewers is to motivate you to do better and be more responsible. Speeding was the reason of 31% fatal crashes which is one too many. Speeding could be driving to fast for road conditions not just driving above the posted speed limit. No driver wants to harm a child and if you think about it a child competing against a car is always going to turn into a fatal injury. Speeding is illegal even if you are driving one mile over the speed limit. Speed limits are determined on the road and how the traffic is in a certain area. When you speed you do not have as much time to react if someone was to walk out in the or if you suddenly got to press the brake. Every little decision you make can change someone life forever. The mentality majority of people have is that will never happen to and thinking they can multitask. Multitasking is good and all but when someone life is on the line the road and your safety is on the line that should be your main focus. Something you have to keep in mind is a risk-benefit ratio mentality. Just think to your self sometimes. Is this really worth it? Am I putting somebodies life in danger? Is this safe? Those are all valid questions to think about. Let’s say you were running late to a birthday party but you had the cake. Does that not seem like a big reason to speed because everyone is waiting on you.
Now think the benefit is you make it to the party the risk is you kill someone. Those two do not even match and in that scenario, the risk is way more severe than the benefit. The main point of this is to show how the image was persuading a specific audience. Kids are the future and we want to keep them as safe as we can. They are under our care and speeding is no way for someone to die. Definitely if they are innocent and has become a victim. It only takes 3 seconds for a driver to crash after getting distracted. Think about how you are going to affect soemone life if you are speeding and hit the. They will take a emotional toll on them for the rest of their lives. They could have brain damage and not only are you hurting them but their loved ones would have to suffer. It is not fair that an individual can have so much control and change someones life over a simple mistake. Some people even go on to have PTSD after such a tramatic event. Wouldnt you be tramatized? PTSD is post tramatic stress disorder which is common after a serious situation. It is a disorder where you have a problem getting over a bad experience which can give you anxiety and flashbacks of the scene. So not only would you be hurting them physically but also menatlly.
These are just many factors you should think about when getting behind the wheel. No one ever takes it serious enough until they are the ones in a situation like this. This image says so much more then just young boy. The image is a big problem and can tell many different stories. All of the factors I have explained is what you should think about when you are looking at the image. This is a real life crisis and so much can be said through the image. If you just look at the image you dont think of all the consquences. A even bigger problem that will show pathos is you can hurt yourself by speeding. Who wants to get hurt? Not me! Not only will you physcially hurt yourself but you can mentally tramatize yourself. Just reviewing what we talked about pathos was a big part of this visual analysis.
The audeince was persuaded not to speed and all of the consequenes if they decide to speed were brought up. The main arguement you should have got wa stick to the speed limit if you care about anyone saftey including your own. Just put yourself into the shoes of a parent who became a victim due to a driver speeding. Main point is the image was realistic and appealed to my emtiions severly. The use of little boy was a great idea since an innocent kid will appeal to almost anyone. Overall the image was effective at persuading the audience.
