Homelessness in America is a trend that is on the rise. As the cost of living goes up, many people cannot adjust. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has counted around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. This is not to mention the estimated 84,526 homeless people living in New York alone. Australian advertising agency Clemenger BBDO created the ad campaign entitled “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle.”. This advertisement shows a public garbage can with a fork, knife, and napkin placed on top of it. The advertisement is trying to demonstrate how the homeless sometimes have to resort to extreme measures in order to eat, and in this case, they are talking about eating out of the trash. The South African ad campaign entitled “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” takes on the same topic as the previously mentioned ad but in a different way. In this ad, we are shown images of children inside of a shopping cart with their hands held out, asking for food. Both “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle” and “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” use rhetorical lenses in different ways to help shape the meaning of the advertisement.
When examining the “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle” advertisement, a few things stand out. This advertisement plays big into the rhetorical lens of visual rhetoric. We are greeted with the sight of a garbage can with utensils, a napkin. In this advertisement, visual rhetoric is used as a way to show the audience how homeless people sometimes eat out of the garbage by creating the image of a tray of food or tabletop that is set up with utensils and all. Another interpretation that could be made is that the opening of the garbage can is supposed to be a plate and the contents of the garbage is the food on the plate. The “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” advertisement also uses visual rhetoric, but in this case, it is used to show the audience how even children are in need of a source of food in different parts of the world. For example, the advertisement shows someone placing a can of beans in their shopping cart while the bottom of the cart has the image of the child holding their hands out. This creates the image of someone giving a starving child a can of beans. Another interesting instance of visual rhetoric in the “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” advertisement comes with the images of the children. The background of both images looks quite dark and gloomy, which reinforces the idea that these kids are in need. They also appear to be wearing clothes that don’t look like they are in great shape. For example, it looks like the girl on the right has several cuts and holes in her shirt. All of these factors help make us viewers understand the claim and argument of the advertisement.
Another rhetorical lens that is exemplified in these artifacts in rather interesting ways is trust, more notably, pathos. The “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle” advertising uses pathos to make the viewer feel how a homeless person feels. It puts us in the shoes of someone who has eaten out of the trash before with the whole dining setup on top of the garbage can. Even the title of the artifact uses pathos: “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle”. Notice the use of the word “everyday”. The usage of this word evokes emotion and pity because it makes us realize how every single day homeless people and people living in poverty are eating out of the garbage can. The “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” advertisement uses pathos in a different way as opposed to “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle”. Instead of subtly dropping it in with word usage like in the prior ad, this artifact uses a more noticeable and in-your-face way, and it comes with the children that are displayed. The children in the advertisement are looking right into our souls with a sorrowful look on their faces. This look alone makes us feel for these hypothetical kids. This is not to mention the fact that they are holding their hands out. One could say that it looks like they are trying to hold their hands out to you and that they want your help. This makes us feel like we need to rise to action and help these starving kids get the food that they need.
When examining both of these civic artifacts, there are some common beliefs that are displayed in the artifact. The usage of commonplaces helps the audience understand what point the advertisement is trying to make and more notably, commonplaces help us understand why they are making this point. In the case of “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle”, the most notable commonplace used is the idea that every homeless person eats out of the garbage. This usage of a commonplace is more on-the-nose and isn’t really something that big to take away. That is until you look deeper into the artifact and realize that people eat out of the trash literally every single day. One commonplace used in “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” is that we often buy foods and goods that we either don’t necessarily need or that could be going to people who need it more than us. In other words, have you ever been shopping and grabbed an item that you didn’t really need? Have you ever grabbed something that made you say “Do we really need this?” or “Don’t we have this at home?”. In this artifact, we are led to believe that they want us to feel that some of these items that we don’t need could be going to the people who are living in hunger and poverty.
Speech Outline:
- If you’ve ever been to a large city or densely populated area, you’ve probably seen a homeless person.
- As the cost of living continues to go up, many people can’t adjust. This is causing the amount of homeless people in America to rise.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development counted around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. Not to mention the estimated 84,526 homeless people living in New York.
- homeless people struggle for food every day and they have to go to extreme measures to eat, like eating out of the trash or in some cases, stealing.
- Another important fact about homelessness is that it touches upon three of the sustainable development goals. These goals are no poverty, zero hunger, and good health and well being.
- We as one society have the power to help get rid of homelessness in this country. By just doing simple things like donating and volunteering at a shelter, you can help get rid of homelessness.
- Lens of visual rhetoric, creates the image of a table. The utensils, napkin, and opening of the can is a plate.
- Pathos. The word “everyday” in the title of the advertisement evokes emotion because you realize that this happens literally every day.
- Commonplaces. The commonplace that homeless people’s only source of food is the garbage.
- Wrap it up by talking about how we can collectively try to reduce homelessness in America.
