TOW #2- Alcoholism Advertisement

This advertisement from 2009 was published by the advertising agency BBDO Warszawa from Poland. After looking into it, I found that is simply all it is: an advertising agency. With no apparent ulterior motive behind the company that is easily seen, all of the focus is put onto the actual advertisement.The topic that the advertisement is covering is alcoholism. As we can see, the man behind the bottle seems to be smiling and having a good time. However, as he raises the bottle of alcohol he reveals his face. This time, it is distorted and almost grotesque. Below the picture, we can see the words "Suddenly it got scary? It's hard to tell when fun becomes disease. Don't try to check it yourself."

As the advertisement is about alcohol, it is mostly targeted towards the general public of ages 21 and older. As it uses the word 'yourself', it seems to be targeted towards an individual who may be suffering from an alcohol addiction. It even goes as far to provide them with an alcoholism hotline at the very bottom of the poster. The image in the bottle is meant to catch your eye and almost be disturbing. It is meant to make the viewer uneasy, contributing to the strategy of pathos. This exaggeration of the behavior is almost horrific, and means to make the viewer step back and think about the image. Though most of the strategy used in this image is pathos, I can understand why. As time and time again, the viewer may have heard the statistics and such about alcoholism, it may take more of a visual shock for them to see what could actually be happening to them when they are suffering from alcoholism. This impact may convince them to call the hotline provided or get help wherever necessary.I believe that this was a very interesting and unique portrayal that definitely caught my eye as I was looking at it. Using strategies like the distorted face easily catch the eye which is something that a visual text really should use often. It creates an impact very easily and makes it so that the viewer pauses to observe it more closely.