Thursday 27 April 2017

LO1: Analysis of Media Campaign: ACT FAST

This campaign was created by NHS to inform people on how to act when a stroke strikes someone.

Here is the video for the campaign:
The video starts by showing a normal looking middle aged woman who is smiling. The video tells you that when a stroke strikes it spreads like a fire in the brain, it then shows an actual fire inside the woman's head, video then tells you that the longer the stroke goes on undetected the more damage is done. The video then tells you how to spot the signs of a stroke. You have to think and act fast. The video then tells what to do using the four letters from the word fast.

F - Face, the symptoms of a stroke shown in the face.
A - Arms, the symptoms of a stroke shown in the arms.
S - Speech, the symptoms of a stroke shown in speech.
T - Time, time to call 999.

Throughout the video, it incorporates music which would be well suited in a horror film, in order to make the audience feel uncomfortable, it also connotes the horrific reality of strokes. The video also shows a middle aged actor to demonstrate the three visual symptoms of a stroke. I think they chose a middle aged female actor because:
-middle aged people are more likely to get strokes
-middle aged people are more responsible, and are more likely to pay attention to the campaigns message
-females are stereotypical seen as weaker and will gain more sympathy from the audience.

The woman starts by smiling, which connotes that everything is OK, then she acts out the symptoms of a stroke in a frightening and disturbing way, which makes the audience feel uncomfortable. However, this makes the video more powerful, since people are more likely to be affected by disturbing things, since it brings them back down to the horrific reality we live in. 

The video also uses the powerful imagery of a fire spreading in a person's brain, which connotes the urgency and danger of a stroke. The video at the end says that it is time to call 999, just like you would in the case of a fire.

Here is the image for the campaign:



The poster show cases the four things you need to which each start with the letters in the word FAST, just like the audio-visual advert does. For each symptom the poster shows an image relating to it directly. Also to link back to the audio-visual advert, the campaign again showcases a middle aged woman under a stroke attack. The poster shows the four things you need to do in relation to the word fast in a more effective way, by lining up the word FAST so that it can be read  horizontally by the audience. Below the poster reads "WHEN STROKE STRIKES, ACT F.A.S.T" which is highlighted in the colour yellow, which connotes ideas of urgency and danger.

Over all I think the campaign was successful especially because of the word fast. The word fast first of all tells you that you need to act fast when someone is having a stroke, then the word fast tells you what to do. It helps audiences remember what to do in a more effective way then just plainly telling audiences what to in case of a stroke.

This campaign uses synergy, since the poster and the video advert share the same font, the same imagery and the same message throughout advert. Both adverts also explain the campaigns message in the same way, since the video advert explains what each letter of FAST represents. It is incredibly important that campaigns such as this one have synergy in order for the message to stick in people's heads more. This way the campaign has almost trained everyone who sees it to do what is needed when somebody has a stroke.

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