On National Missing Children's Day, in May of 2006, the Wireless Amber Alerts program launched an advertisement campaign. The campaign's goal was to raise awareness for their new wireless notification system, ultimately to convince people to subscribe. The program sends SMS notifications to subscribers' cell phones when a child is reported to be missing. One of the images used in the campaign depicts a single red swing. Instead of holding a child, the swing’s seat bears the words, "An abducted child is everyone's child." The colored image appeared on billboards (including one in Austin, at Kerbey Lane Café), and a black-and-white version was printed in newspapers.
The advertisement is primarily directed at parents and other adults with an important child in their lives (e.g., grandparents, teachers, relatives, babysitters). As many older adults now have cell phones, this advertisement is not necessarily limited to younger, tech-savvy generations. However, not much more can be said about the target audience. The advertiser made two important choices that maximized the scope of individuals this advertisement has the potential affect: (a) the use of a swing to represent childhood, and (b) refraining from including a child in the image.
By selecting a swing, the advertisers ensured they would not be appealing only to individuals of a certain socioeconomic status, gender, age, or culture. In the United States, children of virtually all backgrounds and generations take pleasure in swinging. Accordingly, a swing is also a symbol that evokes nostalgic memories of one’s own youth—especially the particular swing depicted here. The artist selected a swing that is subtly older in style, instead of a more modern, pliable, black swing. This swing is more likely to resonate with the intended audience.
By refraining from including a child in the picture, the advertiser further broadened the audience. Considerations such as age, race, and gender could have resulted in a particular child appealing more strongly to some viewers than others. The viewer is now in a position generate her own image of a child who should be enjoying that swing. The image the viewer creates could be of her own child, of a child that is familiar to her, of herself as a child, or it could simply be of a quintessential child she’s conceptualized herself. Regardless, the child that the viewer mentally places on the swing will be one that makes a strong emotional appeal.
The simplicity of the image is a pithy demonstration of the reality and solemnity of child abduction. Where there should be youthful grins and squeals of laughter, the viewer is forced to contend with a childless void. There are only three things making up the content of this picture: a swing, the ground, and an afternoon shadow that seems to ask whether someone is waiting for this child to come home for dinner.
The advertisement argues for an impending risk of child abduction, even in seemingly safe environments. The setting conveys a sense of urgency and vulnerability. The viewer does not imagine a slow, premeditated abduction; the swing implies the child was in action—and snatched before anyone even noticed. This interpretation moves the viewer to feel that time is of the essence, and she should act fast to prevent the next incident like this from occurring.
The fact that the abduction occurred in a playground further unnerves the viewer. It’s more convenient to think that abductions occur when children stray away from areas designated for their safety and enjoyment, than while they are ‘safely’ in them. Surely, the viewer thinks, the important child in her life is always kept to the safest of areas—but suddenly, that doesn’t seem to matter. The viewer interprets the unnerving sensation this advertisement produces to mean that if a child can be abducted in mid-swing, a child can be abducted anywhere.
Lastly, the text instills a sense of responsibility in the viewer, attempting to move her to action. If an abducted child is everyone’s child, then and abducted child is the viewer’s child (even if she doesn’t have a child!). The ad argues that it would be in the best interest of the child (your child) for a network to be in place to alert you and others of his absence. Given that child abduction can happen at any moment, in any location, and that the viewer is responsible for the abducted child’s safety, the viewer should subscribe to the Wireless Amber Alerts program—and fast.
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