Childhood vaccinations are absolutely critical to prevent the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. Many parents no longer perceive these diseases, such as measles and whooping cough, as a threat to their children, and so they choose not to vaccinate. The everyday struggle against these diseases is not felt as acutely compared to fifty years ago when these diseases still plagued families across the United States., The reason that these diseases are no longer widely seen by parents is due to the success of childhood vaccinations. Many outbreaks of measles and whooping cough have broken out in pockets of the U.S. where vaccination rates are very low.
Boulder County, Colorado, continues to have relatively low vaccination rates. My goal in making the posters was to try to remind those parents that the effects of not vaccinating children are real, and the threat of these vaccine-preventable diseases is not confined to other regions of the globe. In order to make my poster campaign successful, I utilized a variety of rhetorical strategies.
I carefully constructed each aspect of my poster campaign. I chose the slogan because I the use of clear, short sentences properly represented the issue as an urgent matter. I included the contact information for the immunization clinic because, ultimately, the goal of the campaign is to get parents to sufficiently vaccinate their young children while there is still a chance to preserve herd immunity in the community. However, I wanted to begin my poster with a more subtle approach at pro-vaccination. I wanted to guide parents towards that decision on their own, because independence and self-sufficiency are valued by this particular community. I also tried to present statistics that were easy to understand, yet difficult to contradict. I chose clear statistics that are very easy to understand immediately. I chose these statistics to focus on the effects of the diseases and outbreaks on young children and infants, in order to target the emotions of parents of young children. I addressed the perception of these diseases as belonging to less-developed countries by obviously pointing out on the poster that the diseases were not in destitute, less-developed countries, but rather in areas of the United States that definitely have access to modern medicine and sanitation. I chose the disease outbreaks in Texas, Washington, and Colorado because these outbreaks are very current, and deal with diseases that have circulated through Boulder County in recent years. Combining all of these aspects, I attempted to present the issue of childhood vaccines as a relevant, urgent matter that the parents must address in order to sufficiently protect their children.
The images and colors were also chosen deliberately. I chose images of miserable children with measles or whooping cough to visually prove to parents that these diseases are not just a common cold. The children look distressed and need help. Hopefully, the viewer will imagine their own children in the same situation, which is not a comfortable experience. Also, I converted the original images into black and white images because I felt that it removed any connotation of a specific place or time, even though all of the pictures were recently taken. I also thought that parents may first look at the images and think of the past, but when they read the poster caption, they will discover that the struggles against these diseases are still relevant today. When choosing the colors of the text and background, I considered which colors would be readable, but also lend some sense of urgency. The light orange color of the text is not a calming color, and does not soothe the viewer into thinking that future prospects are bright. I chose the dark grey background because it flowed with the black and white images, but also made the text stand out on the poster. Finally, I chose the contact information text to be white because white is a neutral color, and would not invoke positive or negative feelings about vaccination clinics. Many of these parents do not appreciate the presence of the government or state agencies in their lives, so I wanted to present the clinic as a resource for information and help, rather than animosity and force.
Many parents no longer perceive measles and whooping cough as threats to their children, due to the successful implementation of childhood vaccinations in the past. As a result, many parents in Boulder County, Colorado, choose not to vaccinate their children because they think that the vaccinations are superfluous if a threat does not exist. This phenomenon has forbidding effects for community health. There are real consequences for not vaccinating young children, and I hoped to remind parents of the importance of childhood vaccinations in preventing the incidence and spread of deadly diseases to their children.
Boulder County, Colorado, continues to have relatively low vaccination rates. My goal in making the posters was to try to remind those parents that the effects of not vaccinating children are real, and the threat of these vaccine-preventable diseases is not confined to other regions of the globe. In order to make my poster campaign successful, I utilized a variety of rhetorical strategies.
I carefully constructed each aspect of my poster campaign. I chose the slogan because I the use of clear, short sentences properly represented the issue as an urgent matter. I included the contact information for the immunization clinic because, ultimately, the goal of the campaign is to get parents to sufficiently vaccinate their young children while there is still a chance to preserve herd immunity in the community. However, I wanted to begin my poster with a more subtle approach at pro-vaccination. I wanted to guide parents towards that decision on their own, because independence and self-sufficiency are valued by this particular community. I also tried to present statistics that were easy to understand, yet difficult to contradict. I chose clear statistics that are very easy to understand immediately. I chose these statistics to focus on the effects of the diseases and outbreaks on young children and infants, in order to target the emotions of parents of young children. I addressed the perception of these diseases as belonging to less-developed countries by obviously pointing out on the poster that the diseases were not in destitute, less-developed countries, but rather in areas of the United States that definitely have access to modern medicine and sanitation. I chose the disease outbreaks in Texas, Washington, and Colorado because these outbreaks are very current, and deal with diseases that have circulated through Boulder County in recent years. Combining all of these aspects, I attempted to present the issue of childhood vaccines as a relevant, urgent matter that the parents must address in order to sufficiently protect their children.
The images and colors were also chosen deliberately. I chose images of miserable children with measles or whooping cough to visually prove to parents that these diseases are not just a common cold. The children look distressed and need help. Hopefully, the viewer will imagine their own children in the same situation, which is not a comfortable experience. Also, I converted the original images into black and white images because I felt that it removed any connotation of a specific place or time, even though all of the pictures were recently taken. I also thought that parents may first look at the images and think of the past, but when they read the poster caption, they will discover that the struggles against these diseases are still relevant today. When choosing the colors of the text and background, I considered which colors would be readable, but also lend some sense of urgency. The light orange color of the text is not a calming color, and does not soothe the viewer into thinking that future prospects are bright. I chose the dark grey background because it flowed with the black and white images, but also made the text stand out on the poster. Finally, I chose the contact information text to be white because white is a neutral color, and would not invoke positive or negative feelings about vaccination clinics. Many of these parents do not appreciate the presence of the government or state agencies in their lives, so I wanted to present the clinic as a resource for information and help, rather than animosity and force.
Many parents no longer perceive measles and whooping cough as threats to their children, due to the successful implementation of childhood vaccinations in the past. As a result, many parents in Boulder County, Colorado, choose not to vaccinate their children because they think that the vaccinations are superfluous if a threat does not exist. This phenomenon has forbidding effects for community health. There are real consequences for not vaccinating young children, and I hoped to remind parents of the importance of childhood vaccinations in preventing the incidence and spread of deadly diseases to their children.