Your Words Have Power – Verbal Abuse
This image has been circulated around the internet to provide viewers with an interesting perspective regarding verbal abuse. While many people are aware of the consequences of verbal abuse, this image helps to present the mental and emotional consequences that can result from verbal abuse.
The ad clearly invokes pathos through the use of a frightened child. Specifically, the fact that the child is not wearing a shirt helps to portray him as a symbol of innocence. This is made more evident through the use of a soft background gradient, which reinforces the portrayal of innocence. Pathos is further evoked through the words that form the hand. These are common insults that many members of the audience may have experienced. This would allow for the audience to have a more strict connection to the image.
The majority of the emphasis in this image seems to be placed on the eyes of the child. The background gradient pushes the focus from the white words to the face of the child to make the viewers experience the emotions of the child. Using this strategy, coupled with the simple, but effective phrase causes the viewers to remember this image. The phrase “Your Words Have Power, Use Them Wisely” is very effective in relaying the message of the image to the viewers. While I don’t believe that including the phrase was necessary, it helps to put a voice behind the image. This makes the ad much more effective, as it has a solid message behind an emotionally moving image.
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The image you chose certainly does exemplify the use of pathos. Although you seem to believe the child’s eyes are the main emotional appeal, I am more moved my the hand. The font used to form the hand is very aggressive and bold, creating a very threatening situation. Also the fact that the illustrator chose to make these words form clutching hand, stresses the notion that emotional abuse is just as damaging as physical abuse. The results are detrimental to the child’s psyche no matter the form of abuse.