Analyzing Verbal Abusive Relationships Pictures are said to be worth a million words. But have you ever taken a moment to analyze a picture such as an Ad or a commercial? Most commercials or ads persuade you to buy something that they are selling usually by cheesy actors or delicious looking food. A majority of these ads are targeted to specific age groups, whether it is for kids, teens, adults, or elders. But others are unanticipated manifestations. For example, the smoking commercials, these commercials show smokers who have serious health problems that affected their life.
These ads use subliminal yet informational text, image, or media and other effects to make an impact. Many Ads can be analyzed with Aristotle’s appeals; the images provided can also be analyzed with the three appeals which are ethos, pathos, and logos. One appeal that’s used to analyze a picture is ethos. Ethos is basically credibility of the author. Viewers are only going watch, read, or listen to something that’s worth it or advertised by a specific company.
Anyone who created an advertisement always takes credit for their work and makes a point to show you who is responsible for the ad. The images provided are definitely used for an advertisement and in this case it’s used for verbal abuse and awareness of it. On the bottom of both of these advertisements they have helplines to call to help those who are being verbally abused. With this being shown you can tell this ad was strictly for those who felt they are a victim of being verbally abused.
Notice how both ads are targeted for different age groups. One ad is for teenage girls and the other is for middle-aged women but both show that there is help for both victims at the same hotline number. Another appeal that’s used to analyze a picture is pathos. Pathos is the emotional side of analyzing. These ads persuade a viewer’s emotions. We instantly feel awful for both the girl and the women from the image. Looking at the image of the girl she is obviously sad, upset, and possibly scared.
Around her are negative words that look as if they may have caused her to feel the way she is feeling. The color chosen for this image is red, black, and white. The girl is black and white, as the words surrounding her are colored red. This may be because since each word has hurt her, it is like taking away her true identity and replacing it with harsh a cruel words that give her a feeling of being worthless and self-conscious. The Image of the man and woman has to be one of the more creative and eye opening pictures for any advertisement.
Again this picture is in black and white to possibly create the scene as dark and make viewers realize that this isn’t an enjoyable moment. The man has his hand coming out of this mouth clenching the woman’s hair who is either his girlfriend or his wife showing the redundancy of the image. She is crying, in pain, scared, and sad. The general meaning of this image is to show that words and verbal abuse can be just as equal as or worse than physical abuse. Both images were used for two different age groups with similar examples but different scenarios.
For a teenage girl verbal abuse is everywhere, whether it is from girls that are bullying her at school or in a relationship with her boyfriend who treats her that way. That is why words are surrounding her and not coming from a specific male or female character. The second image of the man and the woman is directed towards woman who are in a marriage or relationship where they are being verbally abused by their spouse, which is why they show a male character verbally abusing the woman.
Also, people who see these ads may not know anything about verbal abuse so it could empower then to go online and learn more about what it is, how to prevent it and to help out those who are being verbally abused. Logos is the last of the Aristotle’s Appeals. Logos is the emotional or motivational appeals to support the advertisement. In both images they motivate women victims to get help if they are in a verbally abusive relationship. It also empowers others to spread the word about verbal abuse.
Some statistics on verbally abusive relationships are: 62% of Tweens (age 11-14) who have been in a relationship say they know friends who have been verbally abused (called stupid, worthless, ugly, etc) by a boyfriend/girlfriend, only half of all Tweens (age 11-14) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship, and more than 1 in 4 teenage girls in a relationship (26%) report enduring repeated verbal abuse. With these statistics at such a young age is extremely eye-opening. What’s even more scarier is Only 33% of teens who were in a violent relationship ever old anyone about the abuse, eighty one percent of parents believe teen dating violence is not an issue or admit they don’t know if it’s an issue, and a teen’s confusion about the law and their desire for confidentiality are two of the most significant barriers stopping young victims of abuse from seeking help. With woman who are older than 18 they have the same problem. Out of the 35,000 individuals who took part in the survey conducted by the CDC, 89% of the women interviewed, claimed to have been subject to verbal abuse.
Verbal abuse is the same no matter what age you are. This kind of abuse happens and the most likely scenario for verbally abusive situations is between intimate partners, but verbal abuse is not limited to this situation because other types of domestic violence could be part of the relationship. Most woman who are a victim to verbal abuse, are abused by their domestic partner or intimate partner. Usually if the abuser is in the privacy of their own home, they are more likely to become verbally aggressive and abusive, but is done in non-public areas for a means of control.
Verbal threats are also the reason to keep the victims from either leaving or getting help. But verbal abuse is just as damaging to victims as physical or sexual abuse. It leaves victims with severe depression, low self-esteem, self-doubt and self-loathing. It is meant to keep the victim prisoner to the abusive individual and to hurt emotionally. Educating the public and more specifically, victims of abuse, on the warning signs of all forms of abuse including verbal, is important. With more awareness to the general public we can decrease abuse by identifying it and stopping it.
Most areas of the United States offer hotlines specific to abuse and healthcare personnel and law enforcement personnel that can be used to also stop the abuse Images tend to reflect real life situations more than you know, and can also open your eyes to problems that occur in the world that you may or may not have heard of. Next time you see an ad, commercial, or piece of art work, analyze it. Figure out if the image is trying to persuade you to buy something that they are selling or if it has a deeper meaning behind it.
Look for what age group it targets such as kids, teens, adults, or elders. But most importantly look for Aristotle’s Appeals, which are ethos, pathos, and logos. Finally look for any informational text, images, or media that the picture uses to make an impact on viewers. Work Cited http://courses. durhamtech. edu/perkins/aris. html http://www. udc. edu/docs/asc/Literary_Analysis_Essay_Outline_ALIS. pdf http://pages. uoregon. edu/jlesage/Juliafolder/PHOTOANALYSIS. HTML http://www. safevoices. org/statistics. php http://www. loveisrespect. org/is-this-abuse/dating-violence-statistics
