Racism occurs in our everyday lives: in our society, in our schools, in the justice system and workplaces, even though most of the time we cannot detect it. This is classed as institutional racism. Again, institutional racism can be overt and covert i.e. a judge giving a longer sentence to a Chinese man for committing the same crime as a Caucasian.
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The advertisement named ‘Criminal Isn’t It?’ illustrates two men, one Caucasian, one Asian, who have both committed the same crime of car theft; yet they have received greatly differing sentences. This is classed as covert racism. The Asian man has been sentenced to one and half year’s imprisonment yet the Caucasian man has been sentenced to half of that, nine months. This breach of the Asian man’s rights is racist and unjust. The pun in the title attacks the justice system. ‘Criminal isn’t it?’ may, in an obvious way, be stating that the two men are criminals, but its depth and pun comes in when you realise that the judge or jury who ordered these sentences are the real criminals, they are the crooks that have committed a racial offence. The rhetorical question brings thought and a change of ideology to mind, it attempts to obliterate narrow mindedness and complacency in those who practically live by it, and increases awareness of the institution which is meant to be just, but ironically is the complete opposite. Both men’s eyes are blacked out, as to suggest the old dictum; ‘justice is blind’ is true. This also dispossesses both of the men of their identities, therefore it portrays that both men deserve equal rights that they are both criminals, yet the only difference between them is their race. This deceives the eye at first glance as only when the captions are read, that is when the real injustice is depicted. The poster as a whole gives an immediate effect on the audience with an instantaneous sense of shock or surprise. This is because the general public turn a blind eye to injustice such as this.
“Children from ethnic minorities often get the worst marks at school” is one of the more graphic posters published. It uses the triptych form to show three separate black and white pictures of school children, most likely teenagers from ethnic minorities, who are battered, beaten and bruised; in this case due to bullying influenced by racial discrimination. The writing is in bold, black, capital letters; this gives a shocking, eye-catching image for the audience to view. The use of black and white triptych and black capital lettering is part of the house style for the CRE. This makes it recognisable to somebody reading the flyer. A sarcastic tone also runs throughout the campaign, in this case it is the main title, ‘Children from ethnic minorities often get the worst marks at school’ carries a dark, sinister pun to it. The keyword is ‘marks’. At school, students get points or marks for completing good quality work, this may be a double entendre as to say that teacher’s do not treat every student as an equal in the classroom, meaning that they have lower marks, purely on their race. In this advert however, they use a much dreadful and literal meaning of the term. They illustrate that children form ethnic minorities get bullied physically, as well as verbally, they illustrate the great extent some children would go to show their hatred, they illustrate the scandalous secrets of life in secondary school.
“And you get annoyed about junk mail.” a bold statement for a serious problem. This advert shows the triptych form again and uses the continuing house style of bold letters and black and white photos to effect. The first photo shows a letterbox. Under it, piles of excretement, quite obviously ‘posted’ through the door in detest. The second shows a similar scenario, yet instead of excretement, it is an envelope that has been set alight. This may not disgust the audience as much as the first photo, yet it is far more dangerous in a sense that it could set a house ablaze and end up in a death of any resident of the household. This shows the true degree that some will go to, to express their loath. The third image shows a dead rat as it is being posted through a letterbox. This may be as dangerous as the second circumstance, as rats easily carry diseases to and fro different animals due to the sewers and living conditions they inhabit. Each picture lays bare the publicly covert racism that is taking place in today’s world. The tone of the title, as in the other adverts, is negative, dark and sarcastic. This, again, makes the poster memorable and recognisable. The appeal is broad, as the majority of us are homeowners; we find it easier to understand the disgust and anger felt if vermin were to be posted through our front door, this gives a subliminal emotion of automatic sympathy that can reach into the coldest of hearts.
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It is my opinion that the ‘Children from ethnic minorities often get the worst marks at school’ poster has the most profound effect on an audience. It is the most thought provoking and it reaches a wider audience than some of the others as it has a wide appeal and opens the eyes of parents and teachers, by using children in the poster, it warns parents of discrimination that may be occurring in their children’s school and frightens them into believing that this will happen to their child. The deplorable and shocking images of beaten kids engage and draw in members of the audience. Images like those are not regularly seen in real life, yet when they are non-chalantly placed in a tube station or bus stand, they immediately captivate an audience. This may be seen as scandalous and disturbing, yet in fact, it is eye opening and educating.
I think that an advertisement called ‘There are thousands of places in Britain where racism does not exist’ is the least effective, thus my reason for not describing it previously. It shows 5 babies of different ethnicities with the word ‘HERE’ written on their foreheads. I personally did not understand the advert when first read – this might be because the advert carries the more covertly subconscious message than the other advertisements. The message is unclear to the younger generation (or generation X as the media put it) and does not set an apparent understanding of the pureness that is trying to be portrayed in the advert. I feel it would have more effect if the title was clearer and possessed a less mocking and negative tone. The aesthetics could be much clearer too, as the hand written effect of the word ‘HERE’ is not easy to read, as I experienced when I thought that it read ‘MUM’. I believe that the advertisement is aimed at mothers, possibly fathers and does not reach to the vast audience that it may be hoping to. For this, I do not believe it is effective as the other adverts.
The campaign as a whole has aimed increasingly high into producing the most effective yet simple adverts that it can. It does not give a difficulty in understanding the majority of its adverts and does not feel too taxing on the mind. It can feel a little intimidating since the sincere and sarcastic tone does not do much to make the audience feel content or in a state of willing to give charity. However this may guilt the audience into helping raise awareness of racism and prejudice in today’s society, using its ongoing intimidation technique, which incorporates slight mocking, culpability and blame on the audience. For this negative reason, I feel that the CRE has reached its aim.