Media Analysis 5
I wasn’t really sure what I was going to use for this final analysis whether it be a song, movie, or article, but I came across a very interesting advertisement about schizophrenia. This ad is basically a person breaking the news to his friends that he has schozophrenia, and while they three people have a conversation about it, the caption at the bottom of the screen does not follow along with the dialog. Instead the caption says what the people are actually feeling/thinking about the person who has clearly just come forward, very uncomfortably, to tell his friends about his condition.
I think it is necessary for anybody reading this analysis to actually see the ad, its only about 30 seconds long. this is the link… http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/005983.html . After you have seen the ad its clear what the ad is trying to say. First it gives an extremely good portrayal of the ways in which people can be misunderstood when they are trying to describe their illness to people who don’t really know what is going on. It also gives a fairly accurate description of the common mistake people make about schizophrenia in particular, and then it continues on to explain that most people who are uncomfortable around schizophrenia patients are probably people who are unaware of the true conditions and symptoms, as well as the fact that they have no need to be afraid of that person. The ads message is hit home when it says “people with schizophrenia don’t really have a split personality, sadly many other people do”.
I feel that most advertisements are usually trying to cover up the truth, however, this ad is trying to bring the truth out and make people aware of the uneasiness involved with mental illness’s. That’s probably because the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society has several main purposes which would lead it to produce an ad such as this one. Some of the main goals of this group is that it…
- Provides support and education for people with schizophrenia and other serious and persistent mental illnesses, their families and friends.
- Increases public awareness and understanding of schizophrenia and other serious and persistent mental illnesses.
- Advocates on behalf of people with schizophrenia other serious and persistent mental illnesses for better legislation and services.
- Promotes research into the causes, treatment, and ultimate cure of schizophrenia
It is clear that this particular media source is actually quite honest, sincere, and helpful to many people, and although it focus’s mainly on schizophrenia, some of the misconceptions about mental illness’s that the ad portrays can be seen for other illness’s as well.
Hey, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because it’s “nice” it’s necessarily more “honest” or “true” than another product. You’re probably on solid ground in this case, but in general, watch out for so-called media “whitewashing.” Whitewashing is when something ugly, unpleasant, or undesirable is painted to look like something good. (Closely related is ‘greenwashing’ in which environmentally unsound practice is made to look more green.)