Thirteen. Twenty. Seventeen. These are just a few of the numbers of students who were not able to go home to their families at the end of the school day. Gun violence has always plagued the educational system taking the lives of innocent students annually. Organization, “Moms Demand Action”, produced an advertisement showing two children seated in a US school library: one with the children’s book Little Red Riding Hood and the other with a major assault weapon. Similarly the “Sandy Hook Promise” campaign produced a “back to school” commercial advertising how thankful students are for their new school supplies, such as scissors to fend off an intruder or new socks to prevent a fellow student from bleeding out. With the help of the contrasting items and their darker alternatives clutched in these children’s arms, the audience is forced to feel a drive for change. A change not only for gun control, but for the safety of future generations. 

The strong opposites in the ad by “Moms Demand Action” further installs the emotion driving towards the audience. The organization stamps the phrase, “One child is holding something that’s been banned in America to protect them” in white writing and in red writing follows, “Guess which one.” Of course living in a country of somewhat questionable priorities, the piece of writing that contains a line about a bottle of wine was banished from the educational system to keep students “safe”. Just to add to the painful irony, an American flag dangles in the corner of the image emphasizing how much the US has really done to get guns out of schools. In general, gun control is out of control with America having the highest amount of school shootings yearly. In almost all of their ads, produced predominantly through social media, this organization relies on pathos to lure in parents and other advocates for children and students. The young age of the two girls tugs on these protectors to look at them as if they were their own or were in years past. For thirteen years mothers and fathers wave goodbye to the most important thing in their life everyday hoping that they come home from school at the end of the day. “Moms Demand Action” use of dark exaggerations in their advertisement influences the audience to help in making a change for gun control not only in schools but in America as a whole. 

The imitation of a “back to school” commercial by the “Sandy Hook Promise” draws the audience in with untroubled imagery only to be overwhelmed by ghastly emotion in a way that forces attention to be held. By having the students exude happiness and calm in the beginning of the ad, viewers find what is being portrayed as normal. Which is exactly what this non profit organization wants to be the purpose…the normality school shootings have been given. Bulletproof backpacks, hard covered binders, all now given alternative purposes as protection from open fire on a class. The joyful music and cinematography mimics a Target advertisement for moms and dads to buy back to school essentials. And nowadays the items showcased are essential when put in this situation. Many students think in class during an intruder drill exactly what the actors are thinking, “Where could I hide?” or “What could I use to break through that window to escape?”. The lack of ethos and logos gives a stronger power to pathos as the mood quickly shifts in the middle of the ad showcasing the horror of what students endure daily. The modern trepidation of schools shooting as demonstrated by the “Sandy Hook Promise” campaign, inculcates the audiences need rather than want for a change to school security in prevention of future tragedies. 

Both advertisements advocate for a change in the educational system and a future prevention of dangers but also focus on different classifications of what this will look like. The use of pathos by both advertisements through contrasting alternatives coerces the audience into wanting to help with putting an end to these merciless massacres. By using children in each ad rather than adults, this intelligently and successfully roots both sadness and anger for the current state of America’s school security. Both “Moms Demand Action” and “Sandy Hook Promise” originated from the same tragedy that took the lives of 26 people in 2012. Each one’s founders were horrified by the events that took place that day when a twenty year old man fired at the students attending school at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Because so, they took separate stances to create their non profit organization. “Moms Demand Action’ focuses on gun control  and how to keep guns out of schools while also keeping them out of the hands of any civilian without a background check. “Sandy Hook Promise” however, pinpoints mental health as the leading result of school shootings writing, “School Shootings are preventable when you know the signs” at the end of the ad. The persuasion of both advertisements successfully convinces or rather broadens the idea for parents, students, or simply anyone wanting a change to make schools a safe place for kids to go. 

The conflicting objects and their somber substitutions showcased by each child in each advertisement influences audiences into helping make a change with the given organizations for future safety from shootings in today’s educational system. Whether it be at fault of mental health or poor gun control, it’s obvious to the audience that the risk students are being put at is one that is  non negotiable. The only way to get this message across is by using emotional persuasion like that of pathos through the dark imagery of a child holding an assault weapon or saving the life of a fellow student with school supplies. Organizations like “Moms Demand Action” and the “Sandy Hook Promise” are changing the world one step at a time by reaching all audiences through these civic campaigns in hope of one day successfully removing school shootings from the headlines. 

Notes:

• Fix thesis… make it a bit more clear and concise
• Unparentheses organization name
• Improve diction and word choice
• “How little…” not “How much…”
• 2nd body paragraph tie in 1st ad into introductory sentence
• 3rd body paragraph emphasize whether it relates more to the children or the opposing objects that draws emotion from the audience
• Overall…organize, improve diction, and clarify!!

Raise your hand if you have heard about the Columbine school shooting. Sandy Hook? Parkland? Ok, what about Saugus? Hollenbeck? These are just two schools from the list of 45 school shootings that took place in America last year according to a report by CNN. 

While looking at this advertisement, the audience is perplexed into what an AK-15 and a children’s book could possibly have in common. Virtually nothing at first glance, but by seating two children in a US library: one with the children’s book Little Red Riding Hood and the other with a major assault weapon, it’s proven to audiences through an intense lens the prevalence and current position of guns in schools.

This ad from “Moms Demand Action” brings to light the dark topic of what the educational system has done to keep guns out of school compared to other so called dangers. To clarify confusion the organization stamps the phrase, “One child is holding something that’s been banned in America to protect them” in white writing and in red writing follows, “Guess which one.” At first glance one would assume that it’s the large gun sitting in the lap of the little girl which is exactly the advertisement’s purpose. It explains that Little Red Riding Hood was banned in schools along with several other children’s books because of the very explicit content, the bottle of wine in her basket. 

This image persuades the audience through pathos and kairos more than logos to side with the organization in believing that guns should be banned or controlled more than an innocent child’s book containing alcohol. The American flag in the background further implements the specific target that is the US school system, not the world’s educational function as a whole. Unlike other countries with sophisticated and refined gun control laws, the United States has done little to nothing to change laws of assault weapon ownership. Because so, this establishes a civic common ground between the advertisement and the audience because it now plays into politics and the Bill of Rights or more specifically the second amendment as a whole. This amendment is defined as “the right to bear arms” written during the war pertaining to individual gun rights. But now current society and even the world as a whole has evolved into a very different place where guns quite frankly do not belong. Which is why we must ask ourselves, is being able to carry a gun a right? Or is it more of a privilege? This is exactly what the advertisement calls of the audience to think to themselves of the danger this ancient right has brought into the present and prevent it from impacting the future. 

The demonstration of the polar opposite objects, a gun and a fairy tale, emphasizes how ridiculous it is to ban a book before a major assault rifle after viewing this advertisement and the weight that this topic carries today. In recent years school shootings have spiked, now reaching over 40 per year. This is more than any other country in the world. And why? Because there are still people living and breathing today that put their belief in expressing their personal rights above the safety of others. 

Parents should be able to send their kids to get an education without having a thought in their head as to if they will see them at the end of the day. The effort and persuasion put forth by “Moms Demand Action” into modern social media platforms, has successfully reached all audiences of all different ages. Young students now are changing lives just as much as their parents through protests, walk outs, and so forth to make a change in gun control in schools and in the outside world. Being able to make a change has no age limit, so why wait to protect yourself, your classmates, and future generations to come?

Thank you. 

CNN Statistic Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/15/us/2019-us-school-shootings-trnd/index.html

Thirteen. Twenty. Seventeen. These are just a few of the numbers of students who were not able to go home to their families at the end of the school day. Gun violence has always plagued the educational system taking the lives of innocent students annually. Organization, “Moms Demand Action”, produced an advertisement showing two children seated in a US school library: one with the children’s book Little Red Riding Hood and the other with a major assault weapon. Similarly the “Sandy Hook Promise” campaign produced a “back to school” commercial advertising how thankful students are for their new school supplies, such as scissors to fend off an intruder or new socks to prevent a fellow student from bleeding out. With the help of the contrasting items and their darker alternatives clutched in these children’s arms, the audience is forced to feel a drive for change. A change not only for gun control, but for the safety of future generations. 

What does a children’s book and an AK-15 have in common? Virtually nothing at first glance but by seating two children in a US library: one with the children’s book Little Red Riding Hood and the other with a major assault weapon, it’s proven to audiences through an intense lens the prevalence and current position of guns in schools. This ad from “Moms Demand Action” brings to light the dark topic of what the educational system has done to keep guns out of school compared to other so called dangers.

To clarify confusion the organization stamps the phrase, “One child is holding something that’s been banned in America to protect them” in white writing and in red writing follows, “Guess which one.” At first glance one would assume that it’s the large gun sitting in the lap of the little girl which is exactly the advertisement’s purpose. It explains that Little Red Riding Hood was banned in schools along with several other children’s books because of the very explicit content, the bottle of wine in her basket. 

This image persuades the audience through pathos and kairos more than anything to side with the organization in believing that guns should be banned or controlled more than an innocent child’s book containing alcohol. Even if the audience was in support of personal possession of guns, they would agree with this image that it’s quite ridiculous to ban a book before a major assault rifle after viewing this advertisement. 

With constantly changing weather temperatures, landscapes, sea levels, and so forth, it’s becoming obvious to many that climate change and global warming are very real and an impending danger for our earth. 

A dutch company called “Greenpeace” has been an activist for rapidly changing climate since the 70s but has just recently begun gaining traction around the world. The company displays rather chilling advertisements onto different social media platforms whenever a new climate crisis arises. By doing this, they are using kairos to strike the audience when the media has brought such disasters to light. Recently, they posted this ad around Christmas with a large snow globe in the center of a green room. Within the snow globe lies the remains of what once built up a snowman: a hat, a scarf, some rocks for eyes and a mouth, and a small carrot for the nose. Under the dressings is a small puddle of water as the result of the snow that has slowly melted. On the top right of the advertisement there is small white lettering that writes out, “Winter. You’ll miss it when it’s gone.” Along with the signature “Greenpeace” logo stamped in the corner.

In this specific advertisement/civic artifact, “Greenpeace” uses kairos as a manipulation of emotions for the audience. The audience in particular is not targeted towards one age or gender which broadens the impact of the purpose they’re trying to get out. By making this ad so plain and simple it calls out to just about anyone willing to listen about what is happening to our earth if nothing is done about it. The use of a melted snowman to demonstrate rising temperatures in particular pulls at the emotional attachment so many people have to the holidays and their childhood of building one with family or friends. Thus, more will feel moved to donate to “Greenpeace” or other global warming activists to slow down and maybe even stop climate change.