B2 Post

Poverty, hunger, despair. These are the images that so often greet us while watching television. One minute you’re watching a funny sitcom with your family, the next you’re watching a depressing ad about how YOU can help save the african children “for only pennies a day.” Now, commercials like these have been around forever. I remember being seven or eight years old when I first watched one of these emotional TV commercials. Im sitting on the couch, enjoying a lovely Saturday morning. My brother and I are watching cartoons and neither of us have a care in the world. There’s no school, it’s a sunny beautiful day… what more could you ask for? Suddenly during a commercial break, a new ad comes up and my brother and I are looking at small african children who are basically skeletons. There’s flash images and short videos of various kids struggling to survive. I was always an emotional person (and still am today), so when I first started to see this commercial, I started to cry.  Then at the very end, they reach out to you, the audience, and tell you that you can help! That’s when I run out of the family room with tears streaming down my face, screaming “Daddy, daddy! We need to help the african children!” Obviously, he started laughing because I was so young and was so moved by this TV commercial and I really didn’t understand anything about the world in second grade. He sat me down and told me he would send some money to help.  When I got older, I found out that he lied and never sent any money. He was just trying to calm me down… but thats besides the point.

Even ten years later, these commercials still get to me; although, I don’t cry every time I see one now. When Berger says “Publicity images also belong to the moment in the sense that they must be continually renewed and made up-to-date. Yet they never speak of the present. Often they refer to the past and always they speak of the future” (Berger 130), I think he has a valid point. Times change and advertisements often have to change with the times in order to stay modern and relevant. However, I don’t believe that this is true of all ads. When I think about the commercial that I saw ten years ago and compare it to the “save the african children” commercials I still see today, they’re basically the same commercial. They show generally the same images, they pull at the same heartstrings, and at the end they have the same call to action. Sometimes in situations like this, ads don’t need to change to stay relevant. Humans are emotional creatures, so when you use their emotions against them, its going to work even ten, fifty, and even one hundred years into the future. Yes ads often have to change to stay relevant, but not all of them do.