Theme one Getting the Message Across Publicising the Circus

A. Say whether the following statements are true or false accord­ing to the information given on the tape.

1. The amount of publicity varies according to the size of the town.

2. You're likely to see fewer posters if the site for the circus is in a field on the edge of a town.

3. Posters are given out free.

4. Every school visited gets half-price tickets for each student.

5. TV adverts are used in special circumstances.

6. The circus is not keen on parades because of the danger of animals escaping.

7. Parades take place whenever the police agree.

8. Cost effectiveness is an important consideration in advertis­ing the circus.

B. In your society, can you think of any images that are especial­ly powerful?

What areas of activity do these images come from? Now quickly scan the text.

Which images make the most powerful impact on you? Can you say why?

You Too Could Become a Communication Expert

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Ever wished you were better at getting your message across? You know, spreading the word, disseminating stuff ... communicat­ing? Like a true professional? Well, read on. Here are some of all time, definitive, classics of communication.

Headlines that really gotcha. Posters that made you scared to go back in the water. Advertisements that made a man of you. Slogans that fed the world. Graffiti that really -ed you. Plus! A word from our sponsor on how you too could become a great communicator...

You too can have a body like a gorilla.

Advertising: «The rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket»: George Orwell. Whatever your opinion of advertising as a means of communication, there's no doubt the good stuff works. And lasts. Probably the most successful and longest running ad ever was this one: How Joe's Body Brought him FAME Instead of SHAME. Or­well, more than most, might have benefited from a spot of Dynamic Tension - the secret that Charles Atlas promised countless thousands would make them a new man in just 15 minutes a day. The ad first ran in the U.S. in the 1930's and Charles, (actually Angelo Siciliano, who died in 1972) continued to clench his buttocks and look tense for a good 40 years.

Big Brother is watching you.

«There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action». Bertrand Russell.

Some of the best communication has been pure propaganda. The most memorable examples were created during the last two World Wars. The messages were simple, direct and bore constant repetition -an essential ingredient of any propaganda. Thus: Dig for Victory. The cartoon style of Fougasse, (pseudonym of the humorous artist, Cyril Kenneth Bird) added immensely to the power of posters such as «Careless Talk Costs Lives».

Sign Language

Great communication doesn't have to rely on words. Signs and symbols have long been powerful, silent communicators. CND's famous peace symbol was introduced to Britain in 1958 by Bertrand Russell on the Aldermaston March. The original design by Gerard Holtom was adopted by CND and is thought to have come from the international semaphore alphabet. The great thing about signs is that many of them are international. Some are known to a particular group only. For instance, unless you're a hobo or a gypsy, you won't know that a special sign scrawled on a post or a fence means: «reli­gious talk gets free meal». Signs have been used for hundreds of years by shops to inform the ignorant or illiterate of what they sold.

Some signs mean different things to different people. So people think a skull and crossbones means pirates, whereas we all know it means poison.

Leaving Your Mark

Logos are the orphans of the advertising world, shoved out on the streets to sell their hearts out. And of all the logos that surround us none have got closer to ruling the world than Coca-Cola. Frank M. Robinson, a bookkeeper, named and designed the logo of Coke back in 1886. He took the names of two of the ingredients, coca leaf and kola nut, spelt the kola with a «c» (it looked better in advertise­ments), then wrote out the trademark in his own hand, virtually as it appears today.

And it may be Clicknology now, but a hundred years ago when George Eastman put roll film in a box camera and called it Kodak, he began the happy snaps business with the line, «you push the button, we do the rest».

Graffiti and Toilet Humour

For some reason we haven't room to speculate on, most graffiti is smutty and most is written, daubed, scratched or sprayed by men.

Know your!! ? Slogan?

Slogans are a form of shorthand - rallying points for people who want to change the world, to keep it as it is, or to sell more soap. The prize for the shortest slogan must go to this man: NON! Charles De Gaulle's complex argument against Britain's entry into the Common Market. And the prize for one of the best loved goes to Baden Pow­ell. More recently, «Feed the World» became a youthful rallying cry which makes one of the «sixties best known youth protests, «Make Love Not War» seem positively indulgent.

C. Now look at the text again. How many different kinds of communication can you find referred to in the text? Now answer these questions.

1. What did Charles Atlas advertise?

2. What are the key ingredients of effective propaganda?

3. Explain the origin of the CND symbol.

4. What two interpretations are there of the skull and crossbones

symbol?

5. What is the origin of the Coca-Cola logo?

6. Look at die advertisement as a whole. What is being advertisied?

7. How successful is the advertisement? Justify your answer.

D. Using not more than 100 words, summarise the chief charac­teristics of effective written communication.