When looking at an advertisement of a doll with a bullet hole in her forehead, I was immediately struck with a feeling of sadness for the brutality the picture represents. It was disturbing to see such cruelty. The advertisement emphasizes innocence and shows how violence destroys.Through the picture of the doll, the advertisement gives the reader the impression of an innocent baby. The color pink is usually associated with innocence. By using pink on her dress and her lips, the advertisement is emphasizing innocence to its viewers. Her crystal blue eyes are widely open, symbolizing her naïveness. Her little smile is welcoming and trusts everyone. She is innocent to the world and everything in it. She trusts everyone, not understanding the danger around her. Violence is one of the main themes of the advertisement. It is represented by the bullet hole in the doll's forehead. The advertisement chooses a baby girl because they are usually seen as weaker and morelikely to be a target of violence than a baby boy is. The picture stimulates our cultural desire to protect girls. The positioning of the photo itself shows the loss of innocence. The picture is taken at an angle of 45 degrees, similar to that of a picture taken at a crime scene. Also, the bottom half of her body is cut off, just as the bullet cut off her life. Her eyes are made to show no real emotion except happiness, showing how suddenly her life was taken. This leads the viewers to feel sympathy for the child and anger against guns. The words on the ad also get the viewer's attention. They are all in bold face and a formal font, something that is usually seen in documents or official writing. This conveys a sense of the importance of the two messages. The first message is "We are living in a nation of lost innocence." This statement appears just below the doll's face. By using black lettering in the foreground of the words, "We are living in a nation of," the advertiser emphasizes the darkness and evil of the country. The meaning of the words "lost innocence" is too vague, but the viewer can get a better understandingof it through the picture of the doll. On the other hand, white lettering in the foreground of that phrase contrasts with the meaning of it, which leads the viewer to pay attention to the meaning. Then there is the second sentence at the center of the bottom of the page, which says, "Support child access prevention laws. www.handguncontrol.org." Black lettering in the foreground of the phrase, "Support child access prevention laws," matches with part of the first message and gives the viewer a new combination of two phrases, "We are living in a nation of ... support child access prevention laws." This tells the viewer that she or he can make this country a better place. Also, white lettering in the foreground of "www.handguncontrol.org" leads the viewers to know it is the right thing to do. The last part of the first message, "lost innocence," and the last part of the second message, "hand gun control," are related to each other. This leads to the conclusion that children lose their innocence due to the spread of violent equipment such as guns. The picture of the doll not only expresses how guns kill children, but also the words "hand gun control"remind the viewers that they can protect children by establishing laws to control firearms. It illustrates how guns destroy the lives of children and kill the innocence that exists within. The phrase "lost innocence" and a bullet in the doll's forehead suggest that children have become more violent, and that they use guns to kill others.Recently, we have been faced with violence in our school system due to firearms. By using the colors, pictures, and words, the advertiser appeals to the fears of the viewers. The innocence of the baby has been emphasized. The bullet on the doll's forehead and her open eyes show the affect of violence on children. The advertiser also uses the words and their foreground intelligently to lead viewers to respond to the advertisement.
