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Visual Rhetoric &Public Service Announcements

• Visual Rhetoric• Message Framing• Creating a Public Service

Announcement

© 2015 Karen L. Thompson Department of English University of Idaho

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Definition of Visual RhetoricVisual rhetoric is a branch of rhetoric and composition studies that focuses on how visual images communicate to audiences and how audiences interpret and find meaning from visuals objects.

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Not Every Visual Object is Rhetorical

• A visual is rhetorical when it seeks to engage the viewer in a conversation through its message.

• That conversation may be aimed at persuading the viewer or simply providing information.

• How that conversation works (or not) is a function of message frames.

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About Message Frames• A message frame limits or defines the

message’s meaning by shaping how it is presented.

• Message frames can be spoken, written, or visual. Visual framing may or may not involve text.

• There are endless ways to frame a message, but most fit within three categories or types of frames: negative, positive, and neutral.

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Examples of Negative Framing

A negative message frame seeks to persuade by showing disadvantages, risks, and bad outcomes. Some studies have shown that negative frames may not be the best way to change public attitudes.

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Examples of Positive Framing

A positive message frame seeks to persuade by showing advantages, benefits, and good outcomes.

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Example of Neutral Frame• This is a storm drain stencil. Notice

how the message is neither negative nor positive. It simply informs.

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Framing a Message is Close to the Concept of Spin• Rhetorical spin is the way a message

is framed to deceive the receiver.

• It is a form of propaganda.

• Spin uses exaggeration, inaccuracies, half-truths, and excessive emotional appeals to persuade an audience.

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Example

• Edward Bernays (known as the father of spin) was paid by the American Tabaco Company to promote cigarette consumption by women.

• In 1929, Bernays staged an event that helped to overturn the cultural taboo against women smoking in public.

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How the Event was StagedA woman named Bonnie Hunt notified reporters that she and her friends were planning to protest the taboo against women smoking in public by lighting up cigarettes during the New York Easter Parade. Hunt called their cigarettes “Torches of Freedom”

The press took pictures and Hunt’s protest went viral, changing public perceptions about women and smoking.

But the event was a fake protest that was staged by Hunt’s employer: Edward Bernays.

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Take-Away• The take-away from this historical example of

spin is that verbal and visual messages are complicated by ethical and moral concerns.

• For this project, you will be creating a public service announcement for a billboard or poster.

• The goal should be to create a message that is aimed at changing public attitudes or behavior using an ethical message frame.

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Creating a Public Service Announcement

• Decide if you want to create a billboard or a poster.

• Remember the topic for the PSA: cell phone etiquette

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Creating a PSA continued

• Remember that you’re working for Kirchmeier Industries, and that you’ve been assigned to create a PSA for ASUI

• Remember that your target audience is students at the University of Idaho

• Decide the specific message and how you will frame it for this target audience.

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Creating a PSA continued

• Be certain the message is one you can visualize with a minimum amount of text.

• Decide if you can create the visual yourself or will need to choose images (see links to image resources in Bblearn).

• If you are using statistics, be certain they are from a valid source and current.

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Your PSA message may be serious.

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Or inspirational.

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Or goofy.