1. What representations are offered in this poster-
what representations might the audience expect to find in the programme it is
advertising?
The poster represents youth as
violent which we see from the child using his hand as a gun. We would normally
see this as children playing but the dark lighting and the aggressive facial
expression of the child aiming his fingers presents it as violent. The fact
that they use children to advertise a programme called “disarming Britain” also
represents to us that to get and use guns in the UK has become nothing more
than child’s play. It also represents to
the audience how growing up for children in the UK is a very dark and difficult
thing. They do this by using dark lighting and making the whole picture look
almost dirty which makes us think it is very tough for these children to live
in society the way it is. The picture also represents our society as one that
often victimises others by having a clear contrast between the boys with one
clearly being a victim with sad facial expressions and the other playing the
criminal or bully with angry expressions. The audience could expect to see a
representation of what could happen to their children, as the target audience
is clearly parents, if gun use in Britain stays how it is. This is shown by how
they use actual children in a violent scene you would expect to instead be
occupied by young adults.
2.
What techniques is this poster using to attract
an audience?
The target audience of this piece
is clearly parents of young people living in the UK which we see from a lot of
use of children and informing us what can happen to them when they get involved
with guns which would certainly interest parents. The poster builds and
attracts this audience in many ways. One way it attracts them is by having the
imagery of a young child having a gun pointed at his head. This would shock
parents and worry them it could happen to their child and make them want to
watch the programme. They also use the fact that people seek out media that
regards their personal relationships and that evokes emotion in someone, like
in the uses and gratifications theory. They use this by making people who may
have had some experience with guns causing harm or a child that has been
endangered before want to watch the programme as it is something they can
relate to and will connect with on a personal level. They also invoke fear in
their audience to attract them to watch it. It states in the title that it is
not areas but all of “Britain” that is at risk which would make people feel
uncomfortable or even unsafe so they would want to watch the programme to feel
more knowledgeable about the subject so that they can then feel safer. This
plays on how it is human nature to want to know more and learn how to survive
as best we can which would definitely draw in a wider audience.
