Sarah Landry
1 October 2012
Personal Experience Essay
English 101-007
Professor Cotman
“If You’re Not In Control, Who Is?”
Marijuana is an illegal and harmful substance that ruins the lives of many people. Some people do not think that it is a big deal. However, marijuana impairs the human senses beyond the point of being able to function at all on your own. Marijuana is a dangerous substance and when improperly used, it can lead to serious problems. The use of marijuana is becoming more and more common with every generation, and it is sad. People like the designer of this poster are trying to make a point to the public that marijuana is a terrible thing and should not messed with.
The image that says “If you’re not in control, who is?” shows two young teenage-looking girls hanging from a marijuana leaf, connected by what seems to be puppet strings. This image portrays exactly what the poster’s heading says. This poster compares people who smoke marijuana to actual puppets. Neither one of them can function properly by themselves; they have to be controlled by something else.
The example of logos in this image is that smoking marijuana is dangerous and harmful to both your mind and body. Another example of logos would be how this poster is organized. Normally posters have the actual words towards the bottom of the page, but on this poster the heading is on the top left corner. I think this is to show that you should be above the influence, so they stated that above the picture of the two young ladies who are under the influence.
The ethos of this image would be the above the influence symbol and the “abovetheinfluence.com” at the bottom of the page. This shows that the poster is portraying an accurate message because there is even a website that the audience can go to and read additional information on the topic. This will provide people with facts to help them better understand what is actually going on in the poster.
The pathos of this image is the two girls hanging from the marijuana leave by puppet strings. I think whoever made this poster chose to use two young girls because that appeals to people’s emotions more than if guys were used. Most of the time people seem more sympathetic to women than they do men. Also, I think they were younger looking because that affects people more than if they were older and grown. I believe this because the older you are the more responsible you should be, and sometimes young people are just naïve and oblivious to the fact that they are making stupid decisions.
The visual elements work toward the context by further explaining what the heading says. The colors in this image are black, white, and green. I think that black represents darkness, like marijuana. When you think of darkness you do not necessarily think of good things, and smoking weed is definitely not a good thing. The black is used for majority of the poster because it has the most impact on the picture. The black also contributes to the pathos of the poster because black is an emotional color. Black represents not only darkness, but death.
I think they used a white heading because white means clean, purity, and innocence. Those are all adjectives describing what marijuana is not. This would make since because the words and symbol in white are trying to send a message that marijuana is bad for you. The white is also a good color to use against the black background. It is a good color to use because they are complete opposites and it provides a good contrast.
The color green represents nature, growing, life. This seems pretty accurate since marijuana is a part of nature, it grows, and it is alive as a plant. However, just because marijuana is a part of nature does not mean that it is okay for you. That is where the black comes in to show that it is bad.
The audience of this poster was directed towards teenagers through young adults. I believe this because every time I see an above the influence symbol, I usually see it
