See the Big Pictures

Today, I went out to downtown and decided to do some appreciation of the some advertisements put up around the area. Venturing out into the heat, awaiting the bus,... and I was frankly not seeing much to appreciate since there was little in the way of adverts and nothing caught my eye. The abundance of buildings that rose higher than any billboard ever could didn't help.

So I went wandering and decided the Tech Museum (now called the Tech Interactive) would be my best bet for something to mull over on the way home. My optimistic hunch was rewarded in spades.

Around the outer walls I was able to sort through, I saw promotion for the short films often shown by the Tech. As I pondered the audience, I recalled the great many times I've gotten to take field trips to the Tech in Elementary school and even the one time I got to witness one of the movies myself; I've come to guesstimate that the movie promotion was geared toward the youth. And as the building stands strong to this day, I think my belief that the brand of the Tech as a staple of both youthful engagement and scientific appreciation is well-founded.

In each poster, the film represented had a focus on animals or natural phenomena. The closest message I could glean I could derive on a collective basis amounts to "check out this nature thing, ain't it cool?" but in different ways across the board. More specifically, "Back from the Brink" is colorful and inviting while showing a small host of animals brought back from the edge of elimination while "Volcanoes: The Fires of Creation" inspires awe and fear with its moodier colors along with silhouetted people completely dwarfed in the presence of gushing magma. Each poster for each film invokes a different aspect of nature to show the viewer, and the posters' imagery draws out a different emotion to draw in new viewers. By this conclusion, of instilling emotion to attract an audience, the Tech is employing Pathos to grab the attention of a new generation.

Satisfied from the findings at the Tech, I sauntered forward a short ways to give the digital banners of the Montgomery Theatre, San Jose Civic, and the Convention Center for something else to appreciate. The LED sign at Civic was shut-off while the banners of the other two locations were stale loops of basically nothing else going on. So I sat the Convention Center light rail station, thinking I could stretch out my findings at the Tech.

It was just my luck that the Humane Society had their posters plastered within most of the stop's glass displays. The posters were of an injured though not unphotogenic dog healing off a bad leg while the captions urge onlookers to "believe" and "make a difference." Snapping a clean shot, I jumped into the oncoming light rail to fast track to Paseo de San Antonio and got back to pondering at the sister stop, facing the heat one last time till my ride home came.

As the poster was basically, for lack of a less cynical term, a dime-a-dozen pity bait starring an animal in need. Can't begrudge a formula that works or ad put towards a good cause. That said, stuff like this attracts animal lovers and the altruistic with not insignificant overlap between the superlatives. The caption about making a difference up top and the sneaky encouragement to donate money tucked into the corner makes the overall message, to give money and help more injured animals, is very much overt; since the Humane Society's name comes up regularly with animal causes from what I've personally seen, I can imagine that they have a good enough reputation for stuff like this. From all of these details (namely using a hurt animal to solicit sympathy money), the ad is also Pathos without a doubt. No brainer really.

And so, satisfied with my hunt for ads to appreciate, I took my steps in the light rail to share what I found. Hope you guys enjoyed reading the journey along with the limited insight.