A Public Service Ad Father and Mother I Love You - Essay Example

Analyzing the ‘Father and Mother I Love You’ Ad A public service ad, en d ‘family=father and mother I love you’, uses different cultural symbols, metaphors, and rhetoric to communicate its ultimate message: each and every one of us has a responsibility to our family. It is through our fulfillment of our responsibility to our family that we can show our love to them. Public service advertising is aimed at communicating a message about public goods, such as the family. It is produced for non-profit uses by organizations or partnerships to raise the awareness of the public (Danna 94), such as about the importance of taking care of our families. So as to minimize the seriousness of the message, visual symbols are applied (Danna 100). For instance, in the ‘father and mother I love you’ ad, there were no real people used to portray the message, only the moving letters F-A-M-I-L-Y and caricatures. This essay analyzes the ‘father and mother I love you’ ad in terms of cultural ideas and the nature and effectiveness of the rhetoric used. Analysis The ‘family and mother I love you’ ad portrays the roles of parents in the family: the father as the ‘pillar’ and ‘shelter’ and mother as the light and guardian. It is a metaphorical ad in the sense that it only uses symbols to communicate its message. The word ‘family’ is at the center of the ad and it shows the changes the ‘family’ went through. It shows how the father and mother care for the family, how the child grows up, how s/he eventually left the family to have a life of his/her own, how the parents aged, and how their grownup child returns to them to take over the responsibility over the family. The initial background shows a home, and then the latter part shows the outside world where hardships are experienced, which is symbolized by the rain. Cultural ideas and stereotypes are effectively used in this advertisement. It elicits a powerful emotional impact because it appeals to the traditional idea that the family is all about love, compassion, and sacrifice, especially on the part of the parents. One of the main cultural ideas used is that we should take responsibility of our parents when they are getting older. Our parents took care of us when we were young and still helpless, and so it is our responsibility to take care of them when they get old and weak. This form of familial responsibility is embraced in most Asian cultures. In many Asian countries, the children are expected to take care of their parents when they grow up. It is a disgrace to leave the parents in an institution or transfer the responsibility of caring for them to a relative or professional caregiver (Adamson 88). On the other hand, in several Western countries, parents expect their children to be independent and learn to take care of themselves, not their parents (Rama 24). However, in more traditional Western homes, the family is still the most important part of children’s lives. There are also cultural stereotypes used. The parents are shown to be the loving and self-sacrificing people in the family. It suggests that parents should never be disappointed by their children. It tries to say that we are here because of our parents and that fact alone is enough to make us remember our responsibility to our parents. There are numerous parents in the world who feel frustrated and disappointed of their children because of their lack of respect and irresponsible attitude toward their family. This is depicted in the ad where the ‘I’—the child—begins to disobey his/her parents and break their rules. The disappointment of ‘F’—the father—and ‘M’—the mother—is shown by their crying. But many parents tolerate their children’s foolishness and forgive their mistakes because of parental love and sacrifice. These parents are willing to bear the pain only if it means comfort and a good life for their children. Thus the cultural stereotype portrayed in the ad is that children should always remember that their parents sacrificed a lot for their happiness. Even though our parents are unfair sometimes, loving them is a natural and rewarding part of life. Some Asian cultures, like the Chinese culture, view the family as the most important part of one’s life, and his/her obligations to his/her family should come first before his/her own interests. Such sacrifices to advance the standard of living of the family are viewed ‘filial’ acts, and standards of a well-bred, responsible child (Giskin & Walsh, 52). However, there are cases wherein the parents go to other places to find better jobs, and thus they leave their children in the care of someone they trust. These parents sacrifice the chance to be with their children just to make sure that they will be able to provide the material needs and comforts of their children. To some, this decision to leave the children for work abroad seems like too materialistic. Traditionally, many people believe that being with our family and spending quality time with them is how we express our affection, devotion, and commitment to our family. But because of poverty or lack of better employment opportunities parents are forced to look for work far away from their families. This only shows that ideals, ethics, or morals differ from culture to culture. What applies to all culture is change. In the ‘father and mother I love you’ ad such changes are depicted by obvious transformations in the letters, for instance, the bending of letter ‘F’ and the shrinking of letter ‘M’ to show old age. On the other hand, letter ‘I’ continuously grows and eventually becomes independent and alone. The ad uses the concept of family love to communicate the message that people nowadays are preoccupied by so many things that they sometimes forget and/or ignore their parents and family. The ad portrays how ‘I’ left his/her parents to live an independent life, but eventually comes back to his/her family when s/he sees his/her parents are getting older and weaker as time passes by. The ad is successful in stirring up its audiences’ emotions through the use of appropriate music and colors. The background music, which is instrumental, is quite heartrending. The intensity of the music rises and falls depending on the events surrounding the family’s life. For instance, the tone of the music falls to portray sadness, like when ‘I’ begins to drift away from his/her parents and his/her parents starts to age. On the other hand, the intensity of the music rises to portray happiness or successful realizations, like when ‘I’ returns home to take care of his/her parents— guiding his/her weak father and protecting his/her mother from the sun—and when ‘I’ eventually realizes that it is his/her time to take care of their family. The colors as well match the quality of the ambiance. The colors are not too bright, but not too dull as well. There are not too many colors, which helped ensure that the message, and not the visual quality of the ad, comes through. The rhetorical strategies—ethos, pathos, and logos—are apparently applied in the ‘father and mother I love you’ advertisement. In terms of ethos, the ethical appeal of the ad rests on the traditional ideas of family love and filial responsibility. The credibility of the ad will depend on its target audience and culture. It will not be persuasive for individualistic cultures and liberal or non-traditional audiences. However, the ad is undoubtedly successful with regard to pathos. It is obvious that the ad wants to appeal to the emotion by taking up a very personal and emotional subject, the family. By using the appropriate symbols, music, color, atmosphere, and other elements, the ad is able to affect its audiences emotionally. However, with regard to logos, the ad is somewhat weak. Because it focuses entirely on emotional appeal, the ad fails to persuade its audience by reason. The questions ‘why’ and ‘how’ are not substantially addressed in the ad. For instance, why are we obliged to take care of our parents, besides the fact that we owe them a lot? The targeted audiences of the ad are those people who wants family love but ignore it for some reasons. These people are those who are caught in the fast-paced world of urban life, those who are overwhelmed by worldly needs and comforts, those who belong to a dysfunctional family, and those who have overbearing, or excessively tolerant, parents (Adamson 106). According to some psychologists, these kinds of people naturally wants to feel affection from their family, or from significant others, but choose to ignore this desire because they have other priorities or they were traumatized by their experiences with their parents or other members of their family (Rama 91). Thus the ad’s main purpose is to persuade those who ignore their parents to love them more. Conclusions The family is designated as the basic unit of society for a major reason. The family is the primary socializing institution. Here we learn the most fundamental knowledge that we have to possess to guide us in our lives. Our parents are our first mentors in the subject of good manners and right conduct. And even though parents differ in their parenting behavior and styles, and even though families differ from culture to culture, one absolute truth remains: family love involves responsibility to our parents. Works Cited Adamson, Heather. Families in Many Cultures. Minnesota: Capstone, 2007. Print. Danna, Sammy Richard. Advertising and Popular Culture: Studies in Variety and Versatility. New York: Popular Press, 1992. Print. Giskin, Howard & Bettye Walsh. An Introduction to Chinese Culture through the Family. New York: SUNY Press, 2001. Print. Rama, Swami. Love and Family Life. Honesdale, PA: Himalayan Institute Press, 1992. Print. Read More