The United States Forest Service has used Smokey Bear as a symbol of forest fire awareness since 1944, and he has become a very recognizable figure in modern advertising. This advertisement uses that well known symbol in another context, harping on all the waste America creates. Smokey's slogan saying that "only YOU can prevent wildfires" is also used in this ad and manipulated to try to create the recognition that the author used primarily to get their message across. Another great technique that the artist used was to use dark colors except for the fire in the background. If Smokey was a bright blue, despite the fact that a bear is obviously black or brown, it would've taken the focus off of the more prominent issue and the person would instead be looking at Smokey. Also, they put the fire behind Smokey, and it highlights him, so the observer really has no choice but to look at the fire that seems to be the issue the artist was trying to bring to attention. I think that this advertisement was mostly ineffective in being able to convey their message, and it honestly is a bit unclear as to what the author is trying to get at. I don't really know much about this issue and the amount of waste that America produces, and it could have been better represented in this advertisement. Everyone knows who Smokey Bear is and how you can prevent wildfires because it is something that everyone has heard countless times. It was a good idea to highlight that recognition as a way for people to pay attention to the issue at hand, yet it wasn't the best way. I still don't have that big of an idea of what is happening in the picture so in general, it could have been presented in a more effective way.
No comments:
Post a Comment