EDUCATIONAL, RESILIENCE OR PROPAGANDA?

Posters have been a powerful force in shaping public opinion because propagandists have long known that visual impressions are extremely strong. People may forget a newspaper article, but most remember a picture. A pamphlet or a newspaper can be thrown away, unread; the radio or television turned off; films or political meetings not attended. But everyone at some time or other notices messages when walking or driving, or sees posters on bulletin boards in offices, hospitals, clinics or pharmacies. The main objective of posters, as with other communications media is to influence attitudes, to sell a product or service or to change behavior patterns. Public health posters are clearly in the third category, their purpose being to alter the consciousness of the public to bring about an improvement in health practices.” – William H. Helfand, To Your Health: An Exhibition of Posters for Contemporary Public Health Issues, National Library of Medicine 

Prior to designing a public health poster, students become well-versed on the interrelationships between the social and psychological – as well as medical factors - the quality of our built environment, the health effects of surface temperatures due to urban heat island effect and public shade. By designing a Public Health Poster, the objective is to translate abstract concepts into provocative messages that will resonate with the general public;  to educate and motivate broad sectors of society about today’s pressing health issues related to extreme heat due to climate change;  and to communicate in a way that is innovative, visually stimulating, and very focused on an important message. It is important to consider how this problem will benefit from visual communication; what are some potential difficulties in understanding this issue; and is there a specific target audience for the issue? 

Which of the three following approaches best shapes public opinion and results in changed behavior?: 

• An EDUCATIONAL poster to provoke awareness, stimulate thought, and perhaps change individuals’ behavior towards healthy practices mitigating heat-related illnesses in times of climate change. SHADE as a requirement for public health and the unhealthy consequences of lacking SHADE; 

               Or 

• A RESILIENCE poster to champion L.A.’s initiatives for public health. Evidence that SHADE - as the missing link to environmental, cultural, social and health – IS being addressed as a new type of Los Angeles equality and well-being, manifested by Mayor Garcetti’s New Green Deal - specifically the appointment of City Forest Officer, Rachel Malarich within the Board of Public Works to implement urban forestry goals, including planting 90,000 trees by 2021 and increasing tree canopy by at least 50 percent by 2028 in areas with the least SHADE (the city’s hottest, low-income communities).  

                 Or 

• A PROPAGANDA poster to invoke hyperbole in the name of public health on:  

  • SHADE disparities/inequities, and the need to provide shelter to those who need it most; 

  • The governmental, utilities, legislative, corporate, private, bureaucratic and political obstacles to SHADE creation for neglected urban areas for marginalized communities; 

  • How SHADE, as a luxury, follows wealth.