Children See, Children Do

     Have you ever been somewhere in public and have seen, or overheard something in private, a person caring for a child acting so irresponsible that you worry for that child’s future? That is what this ad by the Child Friendly Initiative, CFI, of Australia is appealing to, a problem that at some point, everyone has been a witness to. "Children See, Children Do" is the resonating message any viewer is left with after seeing the behavior that is a reality for many families and children throughout not only the United States, but the world. The rhetorical tools ethos and pathos are used strengthen the argument the CFI is making. Pathos is used as the ad strikes strong emotion in its viewers. Ethos is used as the audience watching knows that what the adults and, likewise, the children in the video are doing is wrong and that the adults are directly influencing the behavior of the children.

     Moreover, the ad is so strong because it takes something that is not often seen, the direct negative influence of a child's behavior, and makes it the subject of the ad. The music also plays a role in setting the mood early in the ad. Its soft tune includes the lyric, "...looks like rain again today...” which helps set a solemn mood.

     When first viewing the commercial, one may become somewhat confused until the context of the advertisement is understood. The ad begins by what could be mistaken as a few children mimicking their parents’ daily activities: Walking to work, using a telephone, or waiting for a train; relatively weak pathos. However, as the ad progresses, the scenes become more out-of-place, as was seen when the woman and young girl smoked a cigarette or when the man carelessly littered with the young boy. As the woman and her son scream profanities out of a car window and a woman pukes on the side of the road with her daughter, likely because of her less than kosher lifestyle, it becomes very clear that this ad has a strong message that is not to be taken lightly.

     Child Friendly Initiative begins using stronger, more direct examples of pathos with a higher exigency. The next scene of the ad is of a man and his son yelling bigotry at a dry cleaning business. The anger not only in the father, but on the face and in the voice of the boy turns the ad to a higher level of pathos. The continues scene of a women raging at a telephone with her daughter or a man and a boy throwing rocks at a caged dog only help to solidify the unspoken claim being made. That claim being made is that children are highly susceptible to influence, especially those from people of importance to them, such as parents, teachers, siblings, and other close family.

     At last, the climax of the ad is the scene in which a mother and daughter are screaming at a baby for crying and a man and his son is yelling and physically abusing his spouse. This kind of behavior is largely detrimental to children because it gives them the idea that it is okay to physically and emotionally abuse others and neglect those who require nurturing. These are very important issues that have numbers to prove it. Statistics by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau shows that almost 80% of child maltreatment cases are categorized as neglect and almost 20% are categorized as physical abuse. Also, information form The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The National Institute of Justice, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence, one in four women have experienced domestic violence in her life.

     In final analysis, the very last scene is a powerful and refreshing one. A man and his son aid a woman who has dropped her belongings in a parking garage. This demonstrates ethos and the great point that children are also capable of being influence by kindness and good will.

Work Cited:

Oregon Based - Domestic Violence Resource Center

http://www.dvrc-or.org/domestic/violence/resources/C61/

Child Maltreatment 2009: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Children and Families; Administration on Children, Youth, and Families; Children's Bureau

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm09/cm09.pdf

Child Friendly Advertising Youtube.com Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11s56ALon0