The photo above is an advertisement created by the Greys group in support of Mums demand action which is a group of over ten thousand individuals to transform the current gun policy in America (https://momsdemandaction.org/) on social media. The group produced this advertisement as a way of provoking the media and American citizens and getting attention to the issues that surround the gun laws in place in America. The advertisement cleverly conveys to the audience that it’s completely unacceptable that ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is banned in America due to the appearance of wine on the front page of the book. The representation of the ad lies within the techniques and denotations within the ad to put forward their message in the best way possible. The weapon that the girl is holding is a AR-15 semi-automatic rifle which is one of the most common weapons of choice when it comes to school shootings which indicates that they are referring to school shooters in this ad. In this instant referring to the semiotics theory the weapon acts as a signer of the message the sign is trying to get across. The icon of the gun signifies the metaphor of the one gun being responsible for all the school shootings in America. The girls sitting on the ground acts as a symbol representing that they feel helpless and worried about the situation. The girls sitting down also gives more of an effect of just how enormous the gun is in proportion to the girl which makes the gun seem incredibly powerful and destructive compared to the girl sitting on the ground looking helpless and lost.

Another feature that adds to meaning and representation of the purpose of the ad is writing ‘Guess which one’ which appears red to emphasise the dreadful reality in the answer. This combined with the haziness of the background gives the picture an emotion and mood of darkness and dread. The contrast between the two girls is another technique which adds representation to the ad. The girl on the left hand side holding the book is wearing a pink sweater which symbolises hope for future change. This is compared to the girl on the right side who is wearing more of a grey dark green jumper which blends in with the background to represent all the darkness of school shootings and other gun related tragedies. 

The advertisement could also be interpreted as the gun being the object that is illegal. If a person hasn’t read about issues to do with the gun policy in America, most would assume that the gun would be the banned substance. A lot of people don’t look carefully at the image at hand if they are either in a rush or don’t read it properly and miss the point of the image being that the ‘the red riding hood’ book is banned in America and not the gun.

References

Encyclopedia Britannica. 2020. Semiotics | Definition, Theory, Examples, & Facts. [online] Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/science/semiotics> [Accessed 19 April 2020].

Moms Demand Action. 2020. Moms Demand Action. [online] Available at: <https://momsdemandaction.org/> [Accessed 19 April 2020].

Nytimes.com. 2020. Once Banned, Now Loved And Loathed: How The AR-15 Became ‘America’S Rifle’. [online] Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/us/politics/ar-15-americas-rifle.html> [Accessed 19 April 2020].

News, A., 2020. Moms’ Gun Control Ad Cites Dangers Of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. [online] ABC News. Available at: <https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/04/moms-gun-control-ad-cites-dangers-of-little-red-riding-hood> [Accessed 22 April 2020].