This advertisement poster, created by Brandon Knowlden, is one part of Northern Bariatric Surgery Institutes’ commercial campaign called “Obesity is suicide” in America. It is a product-oriented campaign because it aims to attract obese individuals to get weight loss through bariatric surgeries. And in addition this ad, Knowlden also designed a woman dies of candy overdose and a man strapped with bombs made out of butter sticks.
This poster features a white obese man’s neck bound with sausages and his double chin caused by overweight, with the background blurred. Instead of being delicacy, the sausages are used as rope and end the male’s life. Though the font size of slogan is relatively tiny compared to the gigantic face of the man, the white color of the letters makes the slogan visible in contrast with the dark blue shirt. The slogan “obesity is suicide” is extremely short and directly links obesity to death, making people fear about obesity and may become motivated to make a change. But without the next sentence “But it doesn't have to end this way” and the explanation “Find out how bariatric surgery can help”, viewers are highly likely to perceive this message as a warning against the danger of obesity instead of a commercial advertisement of bariatric surgeries.
It is understandable that the institution is trying to promote its surgery and want the campaign to be impressive and persuasive, but combining obesity with death, as far as I am concerned, is controversial.
The reason why the institution adopt this poster and slogan could be that fearful people have higher chance to be persuaded by negative messages (Hills, 2013, para.2). By linking obesity to death makes individuals become fearful and then take getting weight loss through surgeries into consideration. Nevertheless, obesity does not necessarily lead to death and there are other healthy ways like exercising to get over fatness. This campaign may leads individuals to feel that the only means of losing weight is to receive surgeries, which discourages the public from becoming slim through exercising and diet control.
The controversy may be the cause of an outcry against it, which resulted in it's abolishment (Clark, n.d., para 2). In my opinion, it could be a good thing. Instead of wasting such a well-structured and awesome campaign picture, the government could use it as an educational propaganda.
Reference:
Josh Clark (n.d.) 10 Awesome Ad Campaigns You've Never Heard Of. Retrieved from http://money.howstuffworks.com/10-ad-campaigns.htm#page=1
Thomas Hills. (2013). Obesity is suicide. Retrieved from http://persuasion-and-influence.blogspot.hk/2013/01/obesity-is-suicide.html
Yan, C., Dillard, J. P., & Shen, F. (2012). Emotion, Motivation, and the Persuasive Effects of Message Framing. Journal of Communication.
This poster features a white obese man’s neck bound with sausages and his double chin caused by overweight, with the background blurred. Instead of being delicacy, the sausages are used as rope and end the male’s life. Though the font size of slogan is relatively tiny compared to the gigantic face of the man, the white color of the letters makes the slogan visible in contrast with the dark blue shirt. The slogan “obesity is suicide” is extremely short and directly links obesity to death, making people fear about obesity and may become motivated to make a change. But without the next sentence “But it doesn't have to end this way” and the explanation “Find out how bariatric surgery can help”, viewers are highly likely to perceive this message as a warning against the danger of obesity instead of a commercial advertisement of bariatric surgeries.
It is understandable that the institution is trying to promote its surgery and want the campaign to be impressive and persuasive, but combining obesity with death, as far as I am concerned, is controversial.
The reason why the institution adopt this poster and slogan could be that fearful people have higher chance to be persuaded by negative messages (Hills, 2013, para.2). By linking obesity to death makes individuals become fearful and then take getting weight loss through surgeries into consideration. Nevertheless, obesity does not necessarily lead to death and there are other healthy ways like exercising to get over fatness. This campaign may leads individuals to feel that the only means of losing weight is to receive surgeries, which discourages the public from becoming slim through exercising and diet control.
The controversy may be the cause of an outcry against it, which resulted in it's abolishment (Clark, n.d., para 2). In my opinion, it could be a good thing. Instead of wasting such a well-structured and awesome campaign picture, the government could use it as an educational propaganda.
Reference:
Josh Clark (n.d.) 10 Awesome Ad Campaigns You've Never Heard Of. Retrieved from http://money.howstuffworks.com/10-ad-campaigns.htm#page=1
Thomas Hills. (2013). Obesity is suicide. Retrieved from http://persuasion-and-influence.blogspot.hk/2013/01/obesity-is-suicide.html
Yan, C., Dillard, J. P., & Shen, F. (2012). Emotion, Motivation, and the Persuasive Effects of Message Framing. Journal of Communication.