Just Don’t Do It

The above image was created by the “Diamond Ad” advertising agency for the Anti-drug Campaign Center in South Korea. It was published in February of 2002. With the use of context clues, it’s obvious what the ad’s intention is from the get go. However, knowing that this image was created to raise awareness against drugs makes it easier to infer that the white substance is some type of drug, maybe cocaine. The fact that the drug doesn’t neatly represent a check mark could mean drugs make people sloppy.

The intended message is to stop people from doing drugs and persuade non-users to never start. We know this because the ad explicitly states, “Just Don’t Do It”, next to the white substance we know is a drug. The creators of this ad purposely picked the shape of the drug to resemble Nike’s logo for its relevancy. They even adjusted Nike’s famous slogan from “Just Do It” to “Just Don’t Do It”. The reasoning behind this is to draw attention to it’s message because most people are familiar with this brand. Maybe it would attract people into thinking it’s an advertisement for Nike, since most people don’t think to search up anti-drug ads. Maybe it was so people would stumble across this image when googling Nike. The image also draws an association between sports (Nike) and using drugs, since they are both activities that people are drawn to together. It’s a societal perception that drug users use drugs as a past time, similar to how sports fan turn to sports as theirs. Knowing that this ad was used in South Korea, it is possible the creators intended for a wider audience. Nike was founded in the United States and spread globally, so most people across the world can understand the meaning of this ad without having to come from a specific region.

The image is persuasive to an extent, but it might be too simple to garner the attention it aims to capture. If someone lived a sheltered life or didn’t partake in consumerism/the media, then they might not completely understand the origin that influenced the ad (Nike). If they had no idea what drugs looked like or didn’t happen to read the fine print in the bottom right corner, the message might have gone over their head. The image heavily relies on the audience’s ability to infer and assimilate prior knowledge into a new one.

ETHOS: The image relies on society’s perception that drugs are bad for us and can do harm. It doesn’t exactly explain or depict why drugs have this effect, but we know that drugs are against the law, lead to addiction, and overdose=death. For the most part, this is knowledge that someone would need to learn beforehand to understand the purpose behind the campaign.

PATHOS: I don’t believe the ad does anything to elicit an emotional response from the audience. If anything, I think comparing the drug to a successful brand like Nike defeats the purpose of the ad. I understand the black backdrop is meant to convey an ominous and serious tone, but the shape of the drug substance seems too playful.

LOGOS: Similar to ethos, the ad relies on the audience’s ability to reason that drugs pose negative consequences. The ad fails to provide evidence on why this is true, so it is weakened in that regard. Therefore, the logical argument is missing. We know they want us to “Just Don’t Do It”, but why should we not?