1. Creative and Media: Level 2 Higher Diploma Unit 5: Campaign
Level 2 Higher Diploma Creative and MediaUnit 1: Scene
5.1.2 Poster analysis
Student Book
pp 142–51
Poster analysis
On your own or in a small group:
1) choose three or four campaign posters from the examples your teacher has given
you
2) identify the main message of each campaign poster
3) identify the target audience for each poster
4) decide whether or not you think the poster is effective in getting its message
across.
Campaign Posters.
Poster 1: Vote for Obama.
The main message for this poster is to inform people on where they can vote for Obama to be
President and to also persuade people to vote for him. The poster is targeted mainly at American
citizens so that they know where to vote and have an influence on who to vote for. I think the poster is
effective as it is simple but to the point and presents a strong argument.
Poster 2: Think!
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2. Unit 1: Scene Creative and Media: Level 2 Higher Diploma
Unit 1: Scene
For this poster, you can see that their aim was to raise awareness of using a phone whilst driving. This
happens to be a large campaign that has been seen as a serious issue and made a huge contribution to
road side accidents. It’s targeted at all drivers to make them see the effect that a phone call can have if
made whilst driving and to deter those who have already done it from doing it again. Again the poster
is simple with hardly any writing but an effective headline saying “Dying to take the call”, which acts as
a metaphor of the consequences that making a phone call can have, which could be death. They then
have a picture of a car swerving out of the road. These two techniques prove to be extremely effective
Diploma Level 2 Information Technology
as they use clever wording and shock tactics to get their point across.
Poster 3: Army recruitment.
As you can see, this poster is from a few decades ago when Britain were trying to get people to join the
army for the war. That was the main purpose of the poster. It was targeted at the men of that time as
they needed people to fight for the country. In the picture, the man is pointing directly at the audience
making it more personal and the fact it has “YOU” supports that. By doing this it interacts directly with
the person making them feel needed which is always a great technique to use. Overall the poster is
very effective.
Poster 4: Knife Crime.
This posters main message is the damage that a knife crime can do, whether that be carrying a knife or
using a knife, to a person’s life. The aim is to decrease the rate of knife crime and eventually stop it.
This is aimed at teenagers mainly but reaches out to everyone who is considering or takes a knife out
with them. They say “Carry a knife and lose your life” which is a very strong statement and then they
show a boy in a prison cell. The phrase ‘lose your life’ didn’t necessarily mean by death, although this
could be a consequence of it, but it meant losing your social life and freedom as you will end up in
prison. This is also an effective poster as it uses straightforward wording in order to get their point
across.
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