Due to numerous advancements in technology today,
bullying has evolved from its original form of mainly physical harm into intimidation
and torment via mass media communications such as the Internet and text
messaging. With more discrete forms of
torture for bullies to resort to, bullying has gone unnoticed significantly more
by parents, teachers, and other authority figures. To combat this problem, anti-bullying
organizations have produced public service announcements with hopes of exposing
the dangers and damaging effects bullying has had on its victims.
It is fair to assume that the most convincing message
to end bullying in all its forms would encompass all three persuasive appeals:
ethos, logos, and pathos. But with the enormous
pressure to reveal this huge problem quickly and trigger direct action from viewers,
producers and directors must create commercials and advertisements that contain
startling statistics and disturbing imagery.
Does manipulation of people’s emotions through such images and
statistics cause the message to be sent more effectively, or must accuracy also
be sacrificed in order to initiate the desired reaction?
Alpha Dog Productions filmed a commercial depicting the
“worst possible consequence of cyber-bullying” in response to the increased
numbers of suicides caused by bullying in 2010 (Ou, 2011). The commercial began
with a female student checking her appearance in her locker mirror as the school’s
warning bell rings. The student sees two
familiar faces approaching behind her and instantly becomes nervous. While
desperately trying to escape her foreseen torment, she drops all of her
books. After gathering up her things
from the floor, the first bully walks up to her and says, “Nice shirt.” The bullies walk away quietly laughing, and
the camera focuses on the girl again, whose face displays signs of relief for
successfully avoiding the school day’s routine torture.
The camera returns to the bullies, one of whom has
her phone out and is sending a text message.
Seconds later the unsuspecting victim receives a text: “NOT!!! U ugly
bitch :P” The camera focuses on her paling
face and once again on the phone in her hand.
Blood begins seeping through the ends of her sleeve and she collapses to
the floor. The victim’s body lying in a
pool of blood is the final image viewers see as sounds of screams and sirens
continue around her and as the video fades to black. The commercial concludes with these captions:
“Words have consequences. 19,000 bullied
students attempt to commit suicide each year.”
The producers and directors of this commercial
definitely realized that the most effective way to get their point across was
by playing with people’s emotions. The
entire scene is particularly disturbing, but the end of the clip is considerably
unsettling. Although the commercial uses
logical arguments—bullying can cause victims to have low self-esteems, feel
isolated, engage in self-harm, and even attempt suicide when mistreatment
becomes unbearable—the statistic given at the end of the commercial does not
entirely match the overall message of the video.
The directors’ intent, the commercial itself, and
the concluding message are not consistent with each other. Copyright holder Andrea Ou proclaimed that
the video clip’s original purpose was to expose the dangers and serious
detrimental effects that could result from victimization via cyber bullying
(2011). This was established with one of
the captions that closed out the commercial, which attempted to reveal the
negative outcomes of cyber bullying. The
statistic given at the conclusion of the clip is related to the number of teen
suicide attempts resulting from bullying coming in all forms, and not solely
those caused by cyber bullying. This
commercial is quite misleading; it portrays a performed suicide when the
statistic only accounts for suicide attempts.
Also, the number given describes suicide attempts made by victims that
suffered from bullying in all of its forms, not solely cyber bullying. As a result, the commercial loses its
credibility and effectiveness, and therefore becomes less likely of producing
the desired reaction necessary to put an end to verbal abuse, cyber abuse, and
bullying. This commercial would have
been more authentic had the directors included examples of physical abuse that victims
could also receive in addition to the emotional and mental maltreatment that
they suffer.
Although the commercial combats some misleading
notions about bullying— “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may
never hurt me” is far from the truth—it forms and endorses new stereotypes in
the mind of its viewers. Since the victim
in the clip was a female student, and since she presumably cut her wrists to
end her life, viewers may be convinced that boys are not as negatively affected
by bullying, and furthermore, that only girls engage in self-harming behaviors
and attempt suicide. Viewers may also be
led to believe that if no physical signs of self-harm are noticeable or
apparent, victims are coping well with bullying, when in actuality they could
be considering ending their lives or be self-harming in other ways.
The commercial’s target audience is definitely the middle
and high school population, but more specifically, the directors focused on
bullies. Based on the content of the
clip, and the caption “Words have consequences,” one can conclude that the
directors are concentraing on students that are verbally abusive and /or cyber
bullying their peers. Since the video
clip is quite distressing, one can determine that the directors believed that
scaring bullies straight would be an effective method. Although the shock value of the commercial
can initially cause guilty feelings in bullies, very rarely will the images
stick in their minds long enough to cause them to correct and change their
behavior.
I found this video on YouTube and I had not seen it
before on television, or anywhere else for that matter. This video, like many others, was most likely
posted on the Internet instead of aired on television for numerous
reasons. Bullying is a touchy subject
and suicide even more so. Many people do
not want to face the reality that actions and words really can cause severe damage
to another person emotionally and psychologically; so much so that the person
would rather end their life than continue existing and being tormented. Because anti-bullying commercials are often rash
and to the point—using disturbing images and contain dreadful
statistics—television companies are more hesitant to air such advertisements or
commercials of this type for fear of negative audience response. Since the video can only be seen on the
Internet it is not as effective as it could have been had it been aired on
television.
Producers of anti-bullying commercials and public
service announcements need to ensure that their advertisements are reaching
maximum effectiveness. If the commercial
is too disturbing for everyday television viewing, the advertisement must be
reevaluated and revised to ensure that it is appropriate for all
audiences. Producers must not depend
solely on human emotion for the successful reception of the announcement, and statistics,
if cited, must be used properly and accurately.
Statistics also must coincide with the overall message of the
commercial. If these points are kept in
mind, there is no doubt that anti-bullying movements will effectively raise
awareness and succeed in putting an end to peer victimization.
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