(0:00 – 0:14)
In the first fourteen seconds of “Word Pictures,” a PSA produced by the Ad Council in 1989, eleven static images are individually shown on screen, each one of them visually portraying a different hand drawn word or phrase in the form of a photograph. They are shown in these photos exactly as they were drawn on paper; in crayon and spelled out in somewhat crudely formed bubble letters, intentionally depicted in this manner in order to imply that they were created by young children. I copied all eleven messages below exactly as they can be seen within the actual ad, grammatical errors and all.
“DUMMY,” “PAThetic,” “BraT,” “Stupid,” “JERK,” “moron,” “CLUMSY,” “IdioT,” “I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN,” “I hate you,” and “Youre Disgusting,”
All of the above are particularly negative and insulting, included in this PSA to indicate that the children who drew them on paper must be surrounded by such hurtful language fairly often in order for it to stick so vibrantly in their minds.
(0:14 – 0:19)
The next five seconds of “Word Pictures” are also composed of photographs, this time depicting typical drawings instead of bubble letter messages. The first of the three photos shows a simple drawing of a little boy, illustrated with an expression of despair and tears streaming down his face, indicating he was drawn to personify the sadness felt by the same child who created him. The second drawing is of a dark haired little girl, also with tears streaming and a frown on her face, accompanied by the words “I am sad” written near her mouth. The final drawing depicted in this segment is also of a crying, dark haired young girl. I believe the Ad Council’s purpose in including these three pictures of crying children was to visually connect the messages from the first eleven seconds of the ad to how young people who are the subjects of such hurtful language might actually feel. The observable crying in the drawings as well as the little message saying “I am sad” in the second of the three are included to imply that kids who hear things like “I wish you were never born” generally tend to feel upset and unhappy. I know I would!
(0:19 – 0:21)
These three seconds of the PSA show another photo of a drawing, this one a crude picture of a man that has the word “Daddy” written on his shoulder. It is evident that this drawing was also done of a child, and that the man depicted doesn’t inspire too much happiness in his son or daughter. The drawing indicates to the audience of “Word Pictures” that “Daddy” may not be very kind to or patient with his child; the way the man in the picture is drawn shows him yelling with his arms raised above his head and mouth wide open. Also, instead of a static image, these three seconds of the ad actually zoom in on the open mouth of the man in the picture.
(0:21 – 0:25)
For this last segment of the PSA everything on the screen goes dark, and the only visual stimuli are the messages “stop using words that hurt” and “start using words that help” written in white. The darkness on the screen comes from zooming in on “Daddy’s” mouth in the segment before for effect, done so in this manner to tell the audience that parents, like the drawing previously depicted to represent a child’s father, say things to their kids like “I hate you” and “you’re disgusting” that can really hurt them and bring down their self esteem. Based off of the visual evidence provided in “Word Pictures,” a viewer of the ad would conclude that it is most likely advocating for the better treatment of children in our society, and for parents to stop using language around them that can make them cry or feel upset because doing so really has an impact on people of a young age.
(0:26 – 0:30) – nothing happens visually within this segment of the PSA that supports the message it’s trying to convey
Rowan Counterintuitive 