Social Awareness

Campaign Posters
Year 10 English
Learning Objectives:

Explain the purpose of a social awareness

1
campaign.

Define what a target audience is and identify

2
the characteristics.

Identify the main parts of an awareness

3
campaign poster.

Create your own awareness campaign poster

4
demonstrating your understanding.
An Introduction
to Social
Awareness
Campaigns
What is a social issue?
A social issue is a problem that influences a considerable number of
individuals within a society. Some common social issues that awareness
campaigns might focus on are outlined below:

Drug abuse Domestic Violence Human Rights

Homelessness Obesity Abortion
Asylum Seekers Gun violence Animal Rights
Cyber Bullying Mental health Eating Disorders
Drink Driving Equality Police Brutality
Alcoholism Road safety Unemployment
Environmentalism Immigration Gambling
Racism LGBTI rights Age Discrimination
What is a social awareness
campaign?

A social awareness campaign is typically defined as a sustained effort to

educate individuals and boost public awareness about a specific cause or
social issue. They are usually created by a particular organisation.

A social awareness campaign can highlight important concerns that

people can address in both personal and public ways. In this way they
can affect societal change and create positive shifts in culture.
What is the purpose of social
awareness campaigns?

The aim of a social awareness campaign might be to:

Target people who share the organisation's beliefs and values
Educate potential supporters and raise awareness about the
issue or cause
Encourage people to donate, help the cause in some way
Encourage people to seek help or support
What is a target audience?

In order to create our own awareness campaign poster, we

need to be able to cater it to a specific target audience.

A target audience is a specific group of people with shared

characteristics who are most likely to be supporters of certain
causes. If awareness campaigns are targeted at a specific
audience they are more likely to be successful.

Consider some of the characteristics your target audience might

share including: age, gender, income level, occupation, values,
wants and needs.
Appeal to Emotions
One of the reasons that social awareness campaigns
are so effective is that they appeal to the emotions of
the target audience. This might include emotions such
as:
compassion
sympathy
guilt
anger
shock
fear
frustration
shame
Appeal to Values
These appeals to emotion are often linked to appeals to
the audience's values. Values are the things we hold as
important that shape our attitudes and guide our
actions and behaviours. Some commonly held values
that an awareness campaign might appeal to include:

family
safety
justice
health
equality
charity
Parts of an
Awareness
Campaign
Poster
 You Don't Have to
Headline
Struggle Alone Image

The placement of an image

A headline in an awareness
in relation to the text is
campaign poster grabs a
crucial as readers normally
reader's attention much like
scan and digest a poster
a newspaper’s headline.
within a matter of seconds.

It is designed to be the first

Images are usually large
thing the audience reads so
and eye-catching as a
it should be bold and
reader will look at the
attention-grabbing. Battling addiction can lead people to feel isolated from society and disconnected
from loved ones. But it doesn't have to be this way. If you, or someone you know is
struggling with drug addiction, our organisation can help. Take the first step. Call
image and headline first.
our hotline or visit the website.

See the Light www.reallygreatsite.com

 You Don't Have to
Struggle Alone
Body Copy Signature

The body copy is the main A signature is the name of

paragraph of text in an the company or
awareness campaign organisation which is
poster. usually placed at the

bottom of the image.
It should give more detail

about the campaign or These days internet

issue and use persuasive addresses are used more
language features to often as the signature for
position the audience to Battling addiction can lead people to feel isolated from society and disconnected an awareness campaign
from loved ones. But it doesn't have to be this way. If you, or someone you know is
become involved. struggling with drug addiction, our organisation can help. Take the first step. Call
our hotline or visit the website. poster.

See the Light www.reallygreatsite.com


Logo
A logo is a symbol used by
a company or organisation.
They help audiences to
quickly and easily
recognise the company.
You Don't Have to
Struggle Alone
Slogan
A slogan is a short, catchy,
memorable motto or phrase
that is used so audiences
can easily identify a
company or organisation.

The logo can sometimes be Positive feelings can be

symbolic and present an created by using a slogan.
Battling addiction can lead people to feel isolated from society and disconnected
idea about the company. from loved ones. But it doesn't have to be this way. If you, or someone you know is
struggling with drug addiction, our organisation can help. Take the first step. Call
our hotline or visit the website.

See the Light www.reallygreatsite.com

Visual Elements
An awareness campaign poster is a still image, so we can still discuss other visual conventions we've
learned about such as:
People - age, gender, occupation, celebrity
Body language - facial expression, gaze,
gesture, posture, bodily orientation,
proximity
Appearance - clothing, physique, hairstyle
Colour and lighting
Setting - specific or non-specific locations
and connotations
Props or objects and connotations
Camera shot - close-up, mid shot, long shot
Camera angles - high, low, birdseye, dutch
tilt, undershot
Composition or layout - centralisation,
marginalisation, size, foregrounding,
background
Special effects
Framing, focus and leading lines
Written Elements
Within the headline, body copy and slogan, we can also consider the use of persuasive language
features that work to position an audience to respond in particular ways. These might include:

Colloquial language Hyperbole

Direct address Inclusive language
Descriptive language (imagery) Jargon
Emotive language Pun
Facts or statistics Repetition
Figurative language e.g. simile and Rhetorical Question
metaphor Tricolon and tetracolon

We might also just consider the lexical choice (choice of specific words used) and their connotations
(the ideas or feelings we associate with these words)
Creating Your
Awareness
Campaign
Poster
Your Task:
Choose a social issue to base your campaign
1
on and research your issue, identifying
important facts and information.

Consider what the the purpose of your poster

2
will be.

Identify who your target audience will be

3
along with the values or emotions you want to
appeal to.

Plan the visual elements of your poster

4
including images, colours and composition.

Plan the written elements of your poster

5
including a headline, body copy, slogan and
signature.
Elements: