Dan

A Parallel Message
Analysis of Ecovia’s Don’t Speed Speeding plays a role in over one third of all fatal car crashes. If this amount of people speeding could be cut in half, thousands of innocent lives could be saved. Driving too fast has become an issue ever since cars were put on the road but society feels it is time to put an end to this. There are many advertisements and commercials on the television and on billboards, but they don’t seem to be doing the job to stop the speeding. Ecovia, a transit company, is trying to get the message across in a different way. They are tying the message of “don’t speed” in with a very popular issue, of violence against women. Is speeding just as serious as violence against women? That is the question this image is trying to get humanity to think about. The use of text, color, shadows and contrast make this image prove that driving too fast is equally as appalling as domestic abuse.
This ad portrays an image of what seems to be a man’s fist striking the jaw of a woman. Right above the man’s arm there is a text box with the words “STOP THE VIOLENCE DON’T SPEED.” The words “DON’T SPEED” are written in the color red. On the man’s hand there is a painting of a red truck. On the woman’s face there is a painting of a yellow SUV. The red truck makes the red writing really stand out. It also draws the message of don’t speed to the red truck to make it seem as if the driver of the red truck is the guilty party in the crash. Also, red represents anger or strength, which makes the man appear as if he is punching the woman out of pure aggression. The woman is seen as innocent because of the color yellow on her face. Yellow represents light feelings, happiness or joy, so the woman and the car both could have been enjoying their day, doing nothing wrong, when this fist and truck came out of nowhere and crashed into