The poster is provocative in many ways, some obvious and some less so. The photograph has impact not because it features a cute animal or an unfolded tragedy. When we look at a poster of a puppy behind bars at the pound, or a battered woman's face, or the twisted metal of a DUI-related car crash, we know immediately how we ought to respond. Not only that, the creator of the poster is banking on the fact that most people are going to respond to the image in the same way; empathetically, sympathetically, angrily, etc. The authors of this poster, however, have assembled text and images which deliberately polarize. One viewer may see a scene of intimacy, love, and beauty, and feel a sense of warmth in response to it. The next might see a gruesome atrocity, a perversion of nature, and the image might make that viewer very uncomfortable, angry, or even sickened.
The poster works because it looks on the surface like it's for and about gay men, but it's really quite the opposite. The red line of text might literal read "Let us help him," but it could also be a finger pointed at the viewer: "Let us help YOU." The poster demands the attention of its intended audience first by shocking and infuriating him, and then by asking him to pause, acknowledge, and re-evaluate those feelings. Here, intolerance is the disease, not homosexuality.
My only qualm with this campaign is that it hinges necessarily on homophobia (and homosexuality???) being a strictly male enterprise.
I like the bold concept of this ad, but like you, I don't like how it focuses on men. I can tell it's from the 80's or maybe early 90's. Great example, though.
ReplyDeleteThis campaign was actually from 2007, but it was also conceived and disseminated in Spain. Hopefully this won't come off sounding to prejudicial (wouldn't that be funny), but my experience has been that many European countries are a tad behind the times in terms of gender equity.
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