OUGD501 - Context of Practice: Communication Task

Using Shannon and Weaver's model of the communication process, analyse one piece of visual communication.

Source

This advertisement is an example of entropic communication as it is designed to provoke people to respond and choose whether they agree or disagree with the message being portrayed. The advert could be perceived in a way that makes the audience feel as though they shouldn't eat animals, because we are the same as them. However, on the other hand it could be perceived that we should and do eat animals because they are attractive like Pamela Anderson. This is subjective as some people may or may not find her attractive.

It is most certainly an entropic advertisement, especially for women who view it. It could be perceived as being sexist as well, because they have used a female as opposed to a male to illustrate the message they are trying to convey. This choice of gender could be considered as noise when relating it to the Shannon and Weaver model, as it prevents the audience from making a solid judgement, but instead leaves room for argument and controversy.

Interestingly enough as well, they have used a shade of blue for a large amount of the design, which is stereotypically related to the male sex. This could perhaps be a way of targeting the male population as the audience to capture their attention as well as make them question their behaviour and treatment towards women in general. On the other hand, this may be reading too far in to the advert, which demonstrates a negative aspect of entropic communication, as it could be perceived in the completely wrong way with the introduction of more and more noise. 

Personally, I think the advert was designed mainly targeting men. I don't think it would put men off eating meat however, whereas if there was an unattractive model on there then perhaps it would do. This is an extremely subjective advert as it could be perceived in so many ways. 

I think it is hard to apply the Shannon and Weaver model because where graphic design is concerned, the design process is never linear and there are always stopping and starting points along the way before meeting the final design.