Some Food For Thought...

While looking around on the Internet, I came across this ad courtesy of Amnesty International in Portugal. As you can see, it consists of a man, seemingly of Arab descent, who carries a black board upon which a series of numbers are printed. At the very bottom  in small print it says, "He's done nothing. He's just showing Amnesty's phone number. DISCRIMINATING IS NOT HUMAN. DENOUNCE IT," followed by Amnesty International's logo.

This ad struck me as very powerful and a bit provocative in how it expresses its message. The first thing that catches the eye is the expression, as well as the clothing, of the man in the photo. The emotion shown on the his face is blank, hard to read, and can just as easily be marked with anger or indifference. But we see the manner in which the young bearded man is dressed, much like a traditional Arab Muslim, and that observation, combined with the apparent ethnicity of the man, sparks our imagination with images of Islamic extremists and terrorists. The slate the man is holding, black with numbers written across in white, reminds us very much of the serial numbers prisoners hold while taking a mugshot. So it would be natural for us to assume that the man is possibly an Islamic extremist who has been caught, and taken into custody.

And that would be a logical conclusion...if it weren't for the text at the bottom. Though small, this is the part of the ad that really makes the entire image the most memorable. It speaks directly to the audience, addressing the assumptions that it knows much, if not all, of them have come up with. And with its short, yet concise sentences, Amnesty International inspires guilt from the viewers of this ad, as it tells us that in fact this man is helping to fight for human rights by displaying the organization's phone number, rather than going against it, as many would have thought. Finally, it shows the heart of its message in red letters and capitals, highlighting the problem of discrimination, and drawing all the more attention to the issue.

I believe this ad uses the appeal of need for curiosity, as it draws us in through the image of someone we would view as a possible terrorist and threat to our security. Many of us, in a bit of twisted fascination, would wonder what his crime against humanity was. Through this technique, the ad is diverting us away to a point where the message that follows would startle and surprise us, as it seems that it can read our thoughts. And obviously, this ad operates on a lot of assumptions, mainly that of the fact that many of us would associate a Muslim with terrorism.

Personally, I find this ad to be very effective at portraying its message of disregarding stereotypes. It certainly makes you think twice about how you view the people around you, and how they may actually be as an individual. The main thing that sticks out to me however, is the time it takes for us to impose these stereotypes. The difference between the time you view the image to the moment you read the text is only a few seconds. Yet in those few seconds, we manage to compile an entire personality and background for the man being shown. This stereotyping, this discrimination, is what allows not just ourselves, but also advertisers and marketers to build barriers among us, as we continue to operate in a very narrowcast and closed-minded world.