NSPCC - Cartoon Boy - 2

Charity - NSPCC
Advert Name - Cartoon Boy

The ideologies portrayed in this advert is that the abuse that real children are receiving can look humorous when the child is represented by a cartoon, as shown when the audience is laughing when the adult is abusing the cartoon boy, but as soon as the child turns into a real life, average looking boy, the audience realises how shocking the abuse is when it happens in real life, showing that abuse is no laughing matter because it happens to many children on a daily basis, for doing the littlest of things. The encoders (NSPCC) want children to know that there is help available, and they are there for them in times of need with the use of the word "We" suggesting that the NSPCC is like a father figure to children being abused.

The are only 3 characters in this advert, all of the playing a significant role in grabbing the attention of the audience. The father, portrayed to be horrific and abusive to his child, the cartoon boy, and the real life boy, who we only see for 3 seconds. The father, who horrifically beats up his child and humiliates him for no apparent reason, is actually portrayed to be funny by the audience who laugh, sometimes uncontrollably, when the father abuses the cartoon, because it looked funny to the audience as "its only a cartoon". When the cartoon wets himself from the abuse and the fear, the sound effects again make the audience laugh, which wasn't unusual in this advert as the use of sound effects was used quite often to create humour to the audience. But when the boy turns into a real life child, the audience stops laughing as they realise that the abuse that was happening to the cartoon boy, was actually happening to the child in real life, and that abuse is no laughing matter when it comes to vulnerable children.

The encoders use shock tactics and humour to appeal to the audience. The juxta-postion of the two was very cleverly used by the director of the advert as it got the audience engaged as the humour lasted pretty much the whole way through the advert and the use of shock tactics didn't become evident until the very end of the advert, however on the second time of watching, there is no humour used, and that the whole advert is shock tactics, but the use of a cartoon hides the shock tactics until the very end, when the child turns into a real life boy. There isn't a lot of colour in this advert as the message is dark and deep, so the dark colours allows the audience to grasp at the point the encoders are trying to make.

The best thing about the advert was the juxtaposition, it allowed the audience to want to watch the advert for the full length of time, as the encoders true message was at the very end of the advert. The use of dark colours is so important to the audience as the it represent the tone of the advert, the deep and empathetic feeling isn't matched until the very end of the advert as the boy turns into a real life child.