Stopping the Sale of Ivory Online
Creating propaganda was fun, easy, and hard all at the same time. Originally, I did not know that we had select topics to choose from and I made propaganda for my favorite soccer team. It was easy to create propaganda for something that you know well and how best to get the message across on. When I realized I had to pick something else I was struggling with how to create something that came so easy to me before. Eventually, I gave it enough time and brainstorming to create some functional propaganda. As I reflect on these struggles it makes me think about the kind of problems propagandists had to work around when there wasn’t any technology to help.
I mentally compared the creative process that I went through with what I learned in the lesson about the history of propaganda. Something that came up frequently about Nazi propaganda was that it typically called German citizens to “step up” to help Germany rebuild. This was something I tried to incorporate in my poster with the phrase” “Their future is your choice”. I wanted to put the responsibility into the hands of the audience in hopes they would do something about that.
This leads me into the target audience that I was aiming for. The text from the lesson referenced how Nazi propaganda would target different demographics with different posters with slightly different content on them. While I would love to make multiple posters displaying this, I tried to make a poster that would reach as many demographics as I wanted to. My true targets were animal lovers and online shoppers. I choose these two demographics because the purpose of my poster is to raise awareness about ivory products being sold on online platforms. It is said that the ivory trade is worth around $23 billion annually. Also, that 96 African elephants are poached every day. These jarring statistics are the reason why I target the two groups that I believe would receive the message the best and put effort into solving the problem.
Another point that I wanted to include in my poster was “defeating the enemy”. This was a technique that really all propagandists try to capture. The allied forces would depict the enemy as demons that needed to be destroyed. Elephant poachers are the enemy in my situation, and I wanted to do something to shine a light on them. However, it did not fit with the message I was trying to send with the poster I created. Also, I did not want to encourage anyone to go out and physically try to stop poachers.
In my head while I was working on this poster, I also envisioned it in another setting. I like to imagine my poster popping up on different online marketplaces. It would go on sites like Amazon, Etsy, and more encouraging people to speak up when they find ivory products up for sale. In a perfect world I would also like my poster to follow some personalized algorithms to spread even faster. I would like the poster to follow keywords like elephants, ivory, poaching, and even WWF. I would also target words covering other online shopping sites narrowing in on ivory sales. I like these words specifically because I can continue to target the demographics that I mentioned before.
The last point that I wanted to communicate in my poster that I remember from the lessons was using fear in people. I played on a lot of heavier emotions in the topic I chose but one I wanted to remind people of is the fear of losing these African elephants. If ivory sales continue at the rate that they are then elephant ivory will be in demand until they are extinct. This could be as soon as 2025 if we do not do something about it now. Using the same phrase that I wanted people to rally around, I also want people to see the gravity in the situation. This is not just about not buying a little ivory figure, but to do more to save a species. This dark reality is becoming more and more prevalent for many different animals. Fear and urgency are feelings that I want to reach in people just as much as I want them to step up to make a change.
In conclusion, there wasn’t a lot that I disliked about creating propaganda but what gave me the most amount of struggle was the topic. Not that I don’t like promoting the end of ivory sale across the world, I found I enjoyed it more when the topic was something I truly loved. When I switched over to the topic that I used I had a lot of trouble designing the poster. I couldn’t quite find the story I wanted to tell and how best to tell it. Slowly, through looking up images and other information I was able to create what I wanted.
What I really enjoyed throughout this experience was finding a deeper meaning in the little parts of my propaganda. As I’ve talked about in this essay, there was a lot of thought put into the words that I used and the images as well. I wanted the audience to feel seen by the victims of this situation. I wanted the audience to see the horrible result of what happens if nothing is to be done. I wanted the audience to feel like they needed to make a difference and not support this trade.
I have learned through doing this project that you can solve a few problems by making people aware of one. Hopefully by raising awareness about the ivory trade then a decrease in poaching would occur and equally the rise in the African elephant population. I believe that propaganda like this could help change the world for the better. I hope it would inspire people to help other species that are in need. I have learned just how hard it is to create propaganda, how fun it can be, and ultimately how satisfying it can be when it is complete.
