This is a print ad by the Red Cross to urge the donation of eye balls to help treat the blind.
According to communication theories, the process of perception comprises of 3 elements integrated together to form a meaningful perception of the world around us, namely: selection, organization and interpretation.
Good print ads work by allowing us to first "select" it amidst all the communicative "noises" that shrouds the environment we live in and also obscure the print ad. It plays upon our qualities of selection: frequency, contrast, intensity and novel stimuli.
Let's peer into this particular print ad to have a look at how these elements manage to turn eyes.
First of all, this ad can be found along the corridors and notice boards of the hospitals in the country that this ad is from. This increases the frequency that a random individual will be exposed to the ad. After many times of exposure, the familiarity increases and when he or she finally slows down and observe the surroundings, this ad will stand out due to its uncanny familiarity that strikes the individual.
We also notice the bold method of the blatant use of gore in the ad (if you notice, these are actually eyeballs, mounds of them, in a dumping ground). This makes the ad stand out amongst the other "normal" ads by creating a contrast in terms of the level of boldness, which then seizes the attention of passers-by quickly.The mounds of eyeballs and the level of rot that some of them are in brings the level of gore to an extreme intensity. Also, this is a new concept to us and our reaction to this is not expected, thus due to the novel stimuli, we're coerced into thinking about an appropriate reaction to this ad and at the same time ponder about the ad.
Only after these processes, will we organize these raw info and attach meaning to it based on our own interpretations. These will be other factors that will lead to the overall success of the ad. But through the use of these qualities of selection to draw our attention, this ad has taken its first step towards its success.
