Ad Buster

            For this image the message being put forth is that customers should really question where their products come from and how they’re made. When almost all customers see the Nike logo they think of their shoes and clothes. What they do not consider is the sometimes unethical practices of Nike such as using Chinese labor mills to produce their products and keep prices low. The intended audience is those who use Nike products and are aware that their products are made in China. This ad will then hopefully alert them to the fact that this reality does exist, it is not just a “Made in China” written on the inside of a shoe. The audience left it is those who do not know that Nike products are made in China, to them this advertisement will just seem strange having the Nike logo over top of people working on a table. Perhaps though it may make them curious as to what this image might say and they will go an investigate what it really means.

            The emotion exploited by this viewer is unhappiness and even disgust. Viewers will see this image and realize that the values that Nike promotes such as athleticism, exercise, and perseverance are all simply a façade for an organization that is exploiting workers overseas. This realization will hopefully shock the viewers to their senses and find alternative products that are ethically made, perhaps even made in America.

Personal Photography

For this project I chose to explore personal photography. The main inspiration for my style of pictures was Clarissa Sligh and how she incorporated text into photos and gave them a whole new meaning. The idea of punctum was something that I tried to accomplish and explore further. I felt that by incorporating text into these older photos it would breathe new life into them. The idea for this came from seeing all the older photos in the presentations and getting an idea of what the life of person in the photo was like.

Since I had the opportunity to present more than one picture I felt I could tell a story through my pictures. The pictures I used were from my Grandmother’s memorial slideshow I had made. When I looked at these pictures after this slideshow I had made all I could think of was the idea of life and death. Perhaps it was because that was the context that these pictures were presented to me, so I chose to try and convey the same underlying feelings of these photos to the viewer rather than having them be viewed at face value. To accomplish this goal of purveying the concept of life and death in these photos I took the route of Sligh and incorporated text into these photos incorporating quotes about life, death, and happiness. I only knew a few quotes about life and death so a little research was necessary to find powerful quotes to fully emphasize the meaning of this project.

The reason why I scanned these pictures was for my Grandmother’s memorial slideshow. The purpose of this was not to mourn death, but celebrate life. This was something that I also wanted to incorporate into these pictures. I did not want the viewer to look at these pictures and be depressed, I simply wanted to provide a powerful tool to convey the thoughts of life and death and their relevance to my family.