Surfrider Foundation's Campaign Analysis

According to the natural cycle of living things, the purpose of life is to survive long enough to reproduce to sustain the species. Now, as people have modernized, the reason to stay alive has shifted to more personal, or rather selfish, goals such as being wealthy. Although our main focus in life is not to produce as much offspring as possible anymore, as evolving people, we still have the instinct to maintain our hearts pumping for as long as feasible. Advertisers and the media in general, take advantage of this deeply embedded tendency through cleverly placed messages that are too subtle for the viewer to see. An example of this in action is the Surfrider Foundation’s campaign. They encourage their audience to help end plastic pollution in the ocean by telling them they should care because that same trash ends up in their bodies which could harm their well-being and longevity. …show more content…
Evidently, this was done on purpose to invoke self awareness in the viewer about their diet and health and goes back to the media exploiting an instinct we can’t help. Sushi, a food a lot of people enjoy, is the visual in this print ad; except, the sushi is wrapped in brown plastic bags and is filled with more plastic and trash. Brown is a color that can be associated with dirtiness such as mud and feces — an excellent way to make the visual feel more disgusting. Additionally, the only parts of the sushi roll that are replaced with trash are the foods that come from the ocean which further sways the reader to support their