Ad aims to change perceptions of asylum seekers
Brisbane creative agency me&bond has designed a print advertising campaign for refugee advocacy group The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) which is designed to counter the negative stereotypes of refugees.
The campaign which features a real Afghan asylum seeker Ata who has since become an Australian citizen and carries the tagline “I am not who you think I am”.
Simon Betteridge account director with me&bond said the campaign was trying to change attitudes towards those who seek asylum in Australia.
“Together with the ASRC we realised that to change perspections in the community you need to actually some empathy to get people to put themselves in the shoes of an asylum seeker”, said Betteridge.
Curious. I know the message is positive, yet at first glance I see a guy looking at me in a shifty sort of way and the first words I see are Terrorist, threat and stranger.
Will I read further?
I really want this to work, but it’s more likely that it will simply evoke the “No true Scotsman” logical fallacy from the target demographic. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman for an explanation of the effect.
Sadly, Ata and others used in this campaign will be seen as atypical of the stereotype.
I am all for the message but unfortunately the look of the piece is threatening – if you wanted to create a domestic violence poster, then you could use the same colours, imagery, and font. Can we see one with him smiling as an alternative?
Sorry to be a pedant, but Afghani is the currency. Afghan is the nationality.
I think the look, and use of terror etc is the point.isn’t it?
Its showing what is too often perceived and then shows it not to be correct?
Preaching to the choir here.. but i like it.
…. by this logical then the 42 million displaced people currently in the world have every right to enter Australia no questions asked. No, Australia has every right to determine the numbers and who it accepts. The problem’s easily fixed – we decide the numbers we want to take and they are safely transported from the refugee camps in Burma, Malaysia etc. If you want to come to Australia then that’s the one and only process, all others are deported. Save, effective and stops the hideous people trade…
Agree I read through, the point is to grab your attention first up isn’t it?
This ad insults me. ASRC are guilty of the very type-casting they accuse Australians of.
I am with OtherAndrew and Annabelle … the visual effect is way off the mark … it’s actually menacing … god knows why someone didn’t pick that up .. there would have been a million lovely ways to express the message and the one chosen is not one of them … also think that positive messaging would have been more effective on it’s own, doesn’t actually need the negative to introduce the positive … and the negatives could, as Caesar points out, lead to the No True Scotsman outcome.
It’s all a bit of a shame – a big message mucked up 🙁
To all these people saying that the expression of this man looks threatening and he should be smiling, you are the exact reason for the way asylum seekers are portrayed. Its not natural to see a random stranger grinning from ear to ear. I believe Damien created this shot to evoke the feelings you get when you look at the model. So shut the hell up and think before you speak, use some logic!
I find it hilarious that even after blatantly giving people the answer to this campaign they still fall into the trap of judging the character. The very reason why it was photographed this way. Every pixel, every gesture, every tone and the very talent selected was deliberate. The fact that people view the image in a negative light is the “Perfect” result – you’ve just all been caught judging someone by a simple image.
Thank you and keep the negativity coming 😉
yeah, making him all happy and smiling would defeat the purpose of the ad.
it’s a topic of tension, doubt and suspicion, to portray it as the opposite would miss the mark that it makes
Hey Reegan, take a chill pill. It’s just our observations about the effectiveness of the ad and not a reflection of our thinking around refugees … certainly not for me.