Mscm 830 - Moms Demand Action

MSCM 830- Reflection Paper

MOMS DEMAND ACTION

Moms Demand Action is a series of visual ads. At the first glance, this ad creates a

sense of uneasiness for the audience as it shows a child holding an assault weapon.

This ad grabs the attention of the viewer right away. In my opinion, although this ad is

directed towards anyone and everyone who carry guns, it gets a very high amount of

attention from parents with kids of similar age. This ad is also targeted for those familiar

with the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.

The ad has the pictures of two kids standing next to each other, holding different objects

in their hands. One of them is holding an assault weapon whereas the other one is

holding a pack of “kinder chocolate eggs”. Children are shown to have innocent and sad

faces, which automatically raises some questions in mind. Why are the children sad?

Why is one holding a chocolate egg? Why is the other holding an assault weapon the

size of her? These initial aspects of the image first draw the viewer’s attention to the

advertisement. This invokes an alerting response and draws attention towards

something being wrong with the picture. The human brain’s perception of this ad

deprives it of its comfort level and creates a limited fight or flight response. This ad

makes good use of Pathos as it uses children to connect with the audience giving them

a knock on the emotional side. The second glimpse draws attention to the big MOMS

DEMAND ACTION logo in the corner signifying more attachment to parents esp. moms.

This also reflects the seriousness of the issue and the determination that moms have

when it comes to security for their kids. This ad creates a mental unrest till the person

reads the text which says “One Child Is Holding Something That’s Been Banned In

America To Protect Them” and in red letters, “Guess Which One”….this statement

completely spikes the curiosity and increases uneasiness to another level. The

background of a classroom is kept gloomy to contrast with the message in the white

bold letters but visible enough to incite a concern among those familiar with the shooting

incident and/or have kids in school. The specific use of red color on the logo’s dot, the

message “choose one” and the boy’s red t-shirt also gives an association with the

blood. The only action one does now is to engage more and look deeply and it is

possible that people will answer it to be the weapon. Working down through the ad the

audience can see the other text at the bottom, which states something like this “We

won’t sell kinder chocolate eggs in the interest of child safety. Why not assault

weapons”. This statement really gets the mind completely engaged and the thought

process to start on the issue. It affects on the “Logos” component and jogs up our sense

of logic by providing a visual comparison of the object to assault weapons, making this

atrocity more apparent. The contrast of banning chocolates for child safety and not

guns clearly raises more than a few questions in mind. Some may even perceive the

picture to display the easy accessibility that kids may have for