The image displayed, which produces a shaterring visual impact to the viewer, is a print

advertising created by the polish Non-Governmental Organization “Poland for Good Parent.
DDB” as part of a ambicius campaign aimed to raise awareness about the serious consequences
of domestic violence and teh abuse of children in the Republic of Poland. This image is
targeted specially toward parents who may easly lose their temper and produce physical -or
emotional- damage to their young children.

Although the image itself constitutes a unit, it is formed by innumerable elements and details
which coalesce to form a powerful and direct message. Each of these elements induces a
concious or unconcius perception of reality based on the cultural patterns and the previous
experiences of the viewer.

It is possible to inmediatly observe the signifiers: An inocent child, sitting alone and
unprotected at his home with a breathtaking expresion of pain and suffering as his body is
shattered on many pieces. It is acompanied by a crude but effective sentence to reinforce the
message given to the audience: “You can lose more than your patience”.

The signified or the meaning expressed by the symbol and its relation with the signifiers could
be easly understood by a detailed analysis of some of the diverse elements which constitutes
the ad:

First of all, it's worth noticing the ethnicithy of the child which is an obvious attempt to
uncouncisly and inmediatly empatize with the wide majority of the polish people, who belong
to the Caucasian race. Undoubtely, this fact doesn't imply that the rigths of ethnic minorities
are irrelevant or not as important as the others: It is not a matter of importance but a matter of
probability. If the aim of the campaing is to reach as many minds and hearts as possible, it is
wise to show an anthropological image that fits the majority of the target public.

The blonde red-cheecked boy represents that domestic violence is happening “here”, it is
happening between us, and it could have happened to any of us. Thus, if the campaign would
being runned by an African, Latin American or Arab NGO, the child shown shall be from the
correspondant etnicity to produce an effective emotional conection with the local population
to deliver the message.

Another intersting aspect to consider is the broken body with messy shattered pieces of
different sizes, which resembles a broken vase of porcelain. This is a methaphore of fragility
and the message is clear: A child is as fragile and delicate as a porcelain. Here, the authors
appeal to a resource of exageration, as of course, children are not nearly as fragile as a porcelain
doll or vase. The use of this methaphore has the purpose to imply that even the smallest
emotional or physical aggression -which may be insignificant for a parent with limited
patiente and volatile tempering- like a slap, an insult or simply a word that destroys their weak
feelings and self-steem could destroy the inside and outside of the child. Forever.

At small age, children are through the development of their identity, for their minds are
extremely open to learn and percieve as normal everything they see at their surroundigs,
specially at home, which is the place probably they spend more time at. A small child is going
to copy and adopt as a -concius or unconcius- well-defined cultural pattern all the experiences
they live on their daily life: They believe what their parents says to them and they will grow
“brokenly” believing that they deserve to be hitted, and thus continuing the so-called cycle of
domestic violence, becoming the victims or the victimarians in a nearly future. This is the
reason of the “void” we observe in the image, a child comes to this world “empty” and each
person who directly or inderectly makes an interaction with the children is going to produce
an impact. As responsable adults, we are the ones who are going to fill the inside of our future
generations, and the message here is that we all shall be extremely careful.

As child are made of porcelain, the “owner of the vase”, or better said, the person charged with
the responsability of taking care of the child, shall be extremely careful with every single
action and word they profire towards them, because even the minimun aggresion will induce
terrible consequenses. Losing the patiente against your child is the equivalent of destroying a
thousand of dollars worth ceramic or porcelain unique piece of art. In that sense, the porcelain
vase methaphore may not only be perceived as a sign of “fragility” though, it could also
unconsiosly imply something “valueble” due to the historical artistic and cultural aspects in
Europe. In general terms, any object made of porcelain tends to be a percieved as a unique,
expensive and valuable piece of art. If we are extremely careful with the expensive vase we may
have at home, why shall we not be even more careful with our child whose value surpasses all
the fine ceramics of the earth?

The porcelain methaphore doesn't end here though, another very important aspect to
consider is that once the porcelain vase is broken, it is very hard -if not impossible- to fix or
mend the broken pieces. And even if it were possible to glue all together again, the
consequences remain visible. In that sense, even the smallest violent reaction had as a
consequences of “losing patiente” could produce and irreversible damage to our valuable
porcelain vase: The child.

Sometimes, the damage is so severe that it is absolutely impossible to fix. For example, we see
hundres -or perhaps- thousands of small pieces of porcelain which are so small that even
resembles dust. How could we fix it?. When the viewer of the poster sees this little but
powerful details, the emotions of impotence -and inmidiate regret- appear based on previous
life experiences: When we accidently or deliverately break and object of value (a cell-phone, a
plate or even our favorite cup of coffee) we would inmediatly wish the time to go back and
avoid the damaging action, but it is simple too late. The object is broken and the regret of the
fatous action we just made is not enough to nulify it. After we produce the damage we feel
impotante and regret, but it is simply too late.

The child is sitting alone, with a gesture of pain and suffering, with exagerated red cheeks
aiming to produce a strong visual impact at the first glance. This denotes that the child is
alone, unprotected and vulnerable. It's also worth noticing the absence of the aggresor, which
may also imply that the victimarians of domestic violence tend to be impune and not
percieved by the society. It could be any person we encounter everyday on the streets.

Another interesting detail to note is the predominant colour of the clothes and the room:
White. According to psycoloycal sciences, the white color represents purity, innocence and
fragility, which reinforces the message of the campaign. In the Western Hemisphere -which
includes Poland, the country of origin of the image we are analysing- the white color is
percieved as clean, simple, elegant and pure.The fact that the child is suffering wearing
“inocent color” clothes, emphasized the triumph of the evil, the practical dominance of
injustice wich feels the viewer with anger and impotence which may be the objective of the
campaign: The fact that domestic violence and the abuse of child is happening everyday
between us, shall put us in a so uncomfortable position that it shall be considered intolerable.
If all the viewers feel angry or guilty about it there will be a much higher probability that they
will induce real and efficient actions -in their lifes and the life of others- to counteract the
dramatic and sometimes, even unknown, effects of the abuse of children in the Republic of
Poland.

The ligth background of the image is brigth and welcoming, wisily designed to inmediatly
draw the viewer's attention directly to the shattering representation of the abused broken
child described above. The tonality of the image and the neatness of the clothes and the home
scenario represents that domestic abuse against children could happen everywhere, and it is
often not reealised at first glance. Even the most “honorable-looking” parents could lose their
patiente and produce an irreversible damage to their fragile and valuable porcelain vase: Their
child.

There is no translation needed and the message could probably be easly understood by any
human being. However, the designers made the decision to add to the image a quite ironic text
to reinforce its meaning, perhaps to clearify any possible misconception of the content. It was
not an accident, it was a deliveratly produced aggresion against an inocent child.

The ironic text announces that “You could lose more than your patiente”. It is ironic as it
appeals to mock and destroy a very commun excuse or argument used by (or in favor of)
aggressive parents after their misplaced frustration. When you lose your patiente and produce
damage to the kid, you could easly produce cathastrophic consequences that may destroy their
lives forever

Ideas:
*The image also shows the organization symbol
*Mirada elevada buscando ayuda ?
*rayas del piso, puerta atras (wtf no se que pueda significar butlanbia is needed xD)