In this article I will review the following advertisement designed by The American Bird Conservancy and how it successfully created a call to action; asking readers to sign a petition.
The
American Bird Conservancy seeks to draw awareness to the issues that threaten
the lives of birds. In this particular case, they have chosen to emphasize the
threat of wind turbines which have been identified as a cause of death for
birds. At the bottom of the advertisement they use straight forward text to
inform us of the expectation that causalities will escalate into millions as we
approach the year 2030 if those who host wind turbines are not careful as to
where they place them, avoiding placement on migratory pathways. The overall
design of this advertisement is to recruit people to take action by going to
the American Bird Conservancy’s website to sign a petition which asks for
federal regulation against the placement of wind turbines on known migratory
bird routes and dis-allowing wind turbines to be located within fifty feet of
each other.
The
focal point of the imagery used in this advertisement says, “I can’t make it
home alive”, which is represented by an artistic image of a blue colored bird
named “Jack”, that stands out in front of a cluster of wind turbines which
looks like a “mine field” of unavoidable deadly threats. The problem is that the wind turbines
featured in the ad, have no visual path between them where “Jack” could fly safely,
which strongly conveys certain death for birds like “Jack”. Because this imagery is so successful in
portraying the demise of birds, the American Bird Conservancy must also use
text to support their belief that wind energy is a good alternative to
conventional energy production. The
conservancy accomplishes this by heading up the advertisement with the words
“Make wind power bird-smart”, and follows up with the central image of “Jack”,
the bird, by placing text at the bottom of the advertisement that says, “But
Jack is a friend of wind power”, which conveys the idea that birds are also
benefitting by the positive environmental alternative of wind energy
production. Additionally, their mission to address the spatial placement of
wind turbines is effectively communicated through the density of wind turbines
artistically drawn close together in this ad. This illustrates that wind turbine
hosts need to be careful about how they place wind turbines to minimize the
negative impact on migratory birds, and allowing them to fly through as safely
as possible by placing wind turbines more than fifty feet apart.
Overall
the essence of giving birds a “voice” by anthropomorphizing a bird (Jack) in
this advertisement, is successful in appealing to humans and supporting the
American Bird Conservancy by signing a petition on their website. This call to action is strategically placed
at the bottom of the page after the proclamation conveying that wind power is
good, but must be made as safe as possible for migrating birds. The statement
“sign the petition at abcbirds.org and help Jack get back home”, indicates that
the reader can help birds like “Jack” survive if they respond to the request to
sign the petition. The combination of
personalizing a bird, drawing simple imagery of excessive wind turbines in a
small space, and offering text that explains how a good thing (wind energy)
needs to be carefully placed and considered to balance the needs of all in a
biocentric way versus a careless anthropocentric way, that would otherwise
cause excessive and unnecessary death for birds. This advertisement is a fine example of the
human desire to be more respectful of Earth and its inhabitance, while
fulfilling our essential energy needs at the same time. It illustrates our progress toward lessening
our negative impacts on the planet as we gain more knowledge about how we can
move forward in a more environmentally conscious way. The American Bird Conservancies’
advertisement would lead the reader to believe that power to help birds lies
within our willingness to take action, not only to support alternative energy,
but to use and implement it wisely.
Written by: Kristy Medo
