Preferences and Tendencies

PREFERENCES AND TENDENCIES

by Anton Antonio

July 10, 2015

An environmental advocacy using the I.E.C. (or Information Education Communication) Approach remains to be largely challenging.  (For details on the IEC Approach, please click on this link: http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-iec-approach.html.)  It takes a never-ending chain of artistic and out-of-the-box initiatives to keep people interested in whatever needs to be said or whatever new stuff that needs to be communicated.  Oftentimes, there is a continuing conflict on which strategy to use --- visuals or text.  But what would really work better between the two?... or should it be a combination of both?

Yesterday, I posted an infomercial on my Facebook wall and several Facebook groups where I am a member.  The poster has photos of potential presidential candidates in 2016 (Vice President Jojo Binay, Senator Grace Poe, Mayor Digong Duterte and Secretary Mar Roxas) on the left side and text on the right side saying: “A good president talks to his people.  A better president listens to his people.  The best president listens to his people with his heart. (Antonio, 2015)”  Obviously, the photos and the text on this poster are not related.  While the text pertains to a “best practice” a president can adopt, the photos are just a layout of possible presidential candidates… still to become a possible president.  A silhouette-image of a man with a question mark was strategically placed at the center of the photos.  This should represent another candidate in case the four “presidentiables” are not in the viewers’ preferential list. 

Notwithstanding the inconsistency between the photos and the accompanying text, my netizen friends were quick to organize their own thoughts and opinion about the poster.  As a result, they came up with comments that are very interesting.  It was quite amazing, however, that no one commented on the silhouette… as if it did not even exist. 

Anyway, here are my simple reflections based on their reactions, comments and narratives:

1. People have a tendency to get attracted to photos or visuals than text --- a very natural reaction to poster posts on Facebook.
2. People will only brush over a poster --- therefore focus on the photos and unmindful of the accompanying text --- and not analyze the message of the poster in its totality.
3. People will create their own thoughts --- therefore assume that it is a political infomercial --- without considering the message of the creator of the poster.
4. People often miss the message because they do not take time to analyze the context by which a poster (both photo-visual and text) was made.
5. People prefer to be identified with real people (meaning: no one wanted to comment on the existence of the silhouette) and not with imaginary people.

These reflections, gathered from a simple experimental exercise on Facebook, could provide valuable insights (especially for environmental advocates like me) on people’s preferences and tendencies.

Just my little thoughts…

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REFERENCE:

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “The IEC Approach”. Retrieved on July 10, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-iec-approach.html.