Double Whammy

No matter how far removed one is from society or the world, talking about 9/11 will always be somewhat of a taboo subject. In Chapter 6 of Practices of Looking, Sturken and Cartwright discuss how an advertisement's message can dramatically change with the addition of powerful and/or contradicting text. They give an example of what seems like an ad for fur coats, but when text is added, it is ultimately an anti-fur ad (210-211).

The following ad is by the WWF in Brazil:


The following is the link to the video version of the ad which, to me, is even more powerful:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1125919467?bctid=36830783001

What I mean when I titled this post as a double whammy is to emphasize that not only can the text in images be powerful as stated by Sturken and Cartwright, but the image can be immensely powerful as well. In the case of this ad, one could make the case the the images are more striking than the words.

There are instances in the world of advertisement where the images are so powerful that words are unnecessary. But in this particular example, words were needed in order to deliver the creators' message. It is, therefore, similar to Sturken and Cartwright's example of the anti-fur ad in that the ad, based solely on the images, looks like it is about one thing, but when viewed as a whole with the text, turns out that it is about a completely different thing. What the makers (WWF Brazil) of this ad were trying to communicate was obviously to tell people to respect the planet that we live in. But the way in which they communicated their message backfired obviously with the belittling of the 9/11 tragedies.

Exploiting one national tragedy in order to raise awareness for another is never right. Ever.

Powerful? Yes.
Controversial? Yes.
Offensive? Yes.
Appropriate? No and Never.