Analysis of Ad on the Parental Influence on Their Children

Analysis of ad on the parental influence on their children

Introduction

Have you ever thought that parents' behavior greatly affects their children's behavior? This ad, made by an organization, the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), makes the audience notice this fact. As the name of organization indicates, this organization was founded in Australia, to fight against child abuse and neglect. Those problems have been one of the most serious social issues in that country. NAPCAN does investigation, informs the public the reality of these issues, shows their strategies and demonstrates ideal behavior to wipe out problems wishing that all children are stay in safe, and spend their time having hope for their future. In this ad, such strong wishes are involved, and because this ad is well considered in terms of the way to be attractive, it truly appeals to the audience.

Summary

In this ad, a pair of an adult and a child shows up in one scene and they behave in the same way. For example, when an adult throws trash away on the street, or when an adult takes it out on things or uses violence in getting angry, children slightly behind them also take the same action as those adults. After these scene, the phrase: "Children see. Children do." are shown. And then a pair of an adult and a child who helps a person in trouble comes on the screen. At the last part, it says "Make your influence positive."

Analysis and Argument

The warrant NAPCAN may have is that the audience will see a pair of an adult and a child as a parent and his/her child. Indeed all adults have possibility to be recognized as their role model by children, however, the most influential adults for them are definitely their parents. In this way, when the audience sees characters as being in a parent-child relationship, this ad can have validity most.

Apparently, the intended audience of this ad is parents, judging from the saying shown in the advertisement. NAPCAN alarm and suggest them not to make negative effects but to make positive ones on their children.

In this ad, several strategies to appeal audience's emotions can be seen. The main one is the way story goes. It causes negative feelings on the parents' bad influence on their children first, by showing immoral behaviors like racism or violence. Turning around, the second part shows good behavior like helping others, which leads a positive idea to the audience that parents' behavior can influence in a good way.

With careful attention, the audience might notice that in every scene, children are always behind their parents, and their action comes after that of their parents. This positional relation between a parent and a child implies the situation that children do something which they look in their parents' behavior. Children are likely to just imitate their parents. One noticeable example for children imitating their parents' behavior is the smoking habit. According to a survey on smoking habits, children whose parents are smoker are likely to smoke, and the rate is approximately 11.5% higher than children whose parents do not smoke (SNUS NEWS & OTHER TOBACCO PRODUCTS, 2011).

Relating to this phenomenon seen in children's behavior, there are proverbs in Japan that clearly describe this tendency. Those are "Ko ha oya no se wo mite sodatu (which means children grow up with looking the back of their parents)" and "Ko ha oya no kagami (which means children are the mirror for reflecting their parents)". Interestingly, the similar kind of saying is also in English: "Parents are the bones on which children sharpen their teeth." Even though every expression is different from each other, the core must be the same: their parents will be an object for imitating the way of thinking and to absorb life skills throughout their whole life time. Thus in this way, parents are the role