Dented Head Girl

                                          source: desigg.com
 

This is an advertisement trying to convince drivers to drive more safely in neighborhoods and towns. I don’t know about you, but I find this to be very effective because of the imagery and the look of plain sadness on the child’s face. This ad relies a lot on pathos and also requires the audience to think about what it’s saying, which leads to a more effective message.

First, let’s look at the text: “In town, car accidents don’t just happen to cars.” What this does is cause the audience to think about what or whom else it could affect. In this case, it’s little girls like this one pictured. The viewer now understands that cars could cause harm to children if driven too fast or recklessly. This leads to the image of the girl… and the giant dent in her head. The metallic indent is supposed to be like a dent in a car after an accident, which is kind of a cynical way to look at these kinds of collisions -- the girl is like a car. But it gets the point across.

The imagery is disturbing to say the least, and I think that’s what the makers aimed to do. Whenever we think of car crashes and accidents, we think of car-hit-car instead of car-hit-small child, and that’s what is being discussed here. One of the most disturbing things in this ad, besides from the gaping crater in the kid’s skull, is that this cute little girl is being looked at as a damaged car or a car part. The cuteness adds to the pathos because no one ever wants to see something adorable hurt or mistreated in any way.