Abstract
The Visual Essay, The Silent Killer, focuses on the same issue as the Opinion Editorial assignment — the negative effects of Fast-Fashion. The sole purpose of this assignment was to illustrate an argument through images and text, as well as, stimulate a response from the intended audience. With that said, The Silent Killer primarily focuses on an original-made meme that incorporates pre-existing photos that resonate with the issue on Fast-Fashion. By using a meme, the intended audience, pre-teens and young adults, can access it on any media platform which ultimately provides them with enough information to help them understand the reality of Fast-Fashion. By shedding light on this issue, it can potentially persuade the audience to do what is best for themselves and the world, as well as, take action regarding this issue.
The intended audience for my visual essay is specifically targeted for pre-teens and young adults who aren’t familiar with the topic of Fast-Fashion and its negative effects. With targeting a young audience, my piece is aimed at those who don’t have the money to spend on luxury brands but have enough money to spend on brands that sell affordable and trendy clothes. Moreover, since the majority of my target audience revolves around social media, they are easily manipulated and influenced by Fast-Fashion brands who censor all the bad and only show the good to keep sales rising. With this in mind, to help give them an idea as to who they’re “secretly” supporting when buying from these affordable brands, I created a meme with pre-existing photos that resonate with the issue on Fast-Fashion. Furthermore, the meme is structured in a way where on one side, the audience can visualize what the youth perceive as amazing — constant sales and affordable clothing — when in reality, they are blind-sided from all the cheap pricing and overlook the harm that Fast-Fashion is causing — harm to our environment and third world country workers who produce our clothing items.
In response to my visual piece, its purpose was to provide the intended audience with enough information to help them understand the reality of Fast-Fashion. With one being able to catch a small glimpse of what happens behind closed doors, I want their immediate reaction to feel shocked, triggered, and upset. With the issue on Fast-Fashion being poorly publicized, my goal was to have them question, if there was any way they could help, how would they be able to do it? As well as, question whether buying affordable and trendy clothes from Fast-Fashion stores — Forever 21, H&M, Zara, etc. — is worth the blood, sweat, and tears of third world country workers and risking the safety of our environment and health. Lastly, I intended for this piece to start up a conversation amongst pre-teens and young adults who come across this meme. Not only will their voices help bring attention to this issue but it can also help encourage themselves and other people to look for alternative places to shop at, such as Thrift Stores.
Moreover, with social media –Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc — playing a huge part in our everyday lives, I purposely choose a meme because it’s a useful creative tool that helps get one’s point across. Whether it’s funny, relatable, interesting, or informative, they are likely to be passed around and shared amongst friends and family throughout all media platforms. Therefore, considering how my target audience for this visual essay is aimed at pre-teens and young adults, they are almost always on their digital devices so they’ll have access to this meme online anywhere and everywhere.
Reflection
As a young adult, who adores fashion and loves buying clothes, I grew up shopping at Fast-Fashion brands mainly because my family and I couldn’t afford to spend on anything that was too expensive. Growing up, I did not know the reality of Fast-Fashion because I was never educated in it nor did I ever see any media platform talk about it. It wasn’t until recently when I discovered through Twitter that a Fast-Fashion brand named Fashion Nova was blackmailing undocumented workers by threatening to report to ICE on them if they ever decide to quit. When reading this, not only was I shocked but I was angered and upset. As I did more research on this issue, I found that there are many brands, most of which I shop at, who feel the need to abuse their power and treat minorities as if they are slaves. Unfortunately, it’s very upsetting how this issue isn’t publicized enough because what they are doing is morally wrong and it should be brought to everyone’s attention. With this said, the purpose of my piece was to speak up for those –undocumented and third world country workers– who can’t speak up for themselves. My approach was to inform as many people as I could, primarily pre-teens and young adults since most of them know little to nothing on this issue and can only afford to shop at Fast-Fashion brands.
When first starting this visual essay, I had difficulties trying to find a way to make a meme since I had no access to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. What I did have access to was a variety of options on google docs such as the table, shapes, symbols, callouts, and many more. Since Google Docs is more for writing papers, it was quite difficult to make a visual piece without any art-related tools but after multiple tries, I made it work and got my final piece.
For my visual piece, I made sure to keep it simple and straightforward yet shocking and heartbreaking. I created my piece in a way where it was easy to spot which was the good and bad side. The “good side” which I titled “What The Majority Say…” consists of a white background with a picture of the three most well-known Fast-Fashion brands and a cartoon of a woman holding multiple bags with callout circles attached to her. The cartoon woman represents most teenagers who don’t know the issue of Fast-Fashion and live in a false reality where they don’t realize how harmful these brands are. In the callouts, I purposely put sayings like “These stores are so cheap and affordable”, “More! More! More!”, and “These sales will never stop me from coming back” because these are some sayings that I know my intended audience can agree to. Moreover, the dark side which I titled “What The Majority Don’t Know…” consists of a black background with pre-existing photos of real-life tragic events. This side represents the sad reality of how clothes for Fast-Fashion brands are made. The risks and sacrifices that people from third-world countries have to go through in order to support themselves and their families. Lastly, I bolded and changed the color of a few words to a deep red because they are “deadly words” that end up bringing harm to our environment and to the third-world country workers.
For my visual piece, I mainly used pathos to engage my audience. For instance, since memes play a huge part in our lives, I planned to attract my intended audience to my piece by including clothing stores like Forever 21, Zara, and H&M because these are stores that a lot of pre-teens/teens shop at. By doing this, they might be curious as to why their favorite store/s is next to tragic and heartbreaking photos. Also, another thing that can catch their attention is the title which is called The Silent Killer because of the fact that many people don’t know the harm that the brands are putting our environment and other people through. Lastly, I provided emotion into my meme by putting three photos of Bangladeshi garment workers. The first photo shows the audience who makes the clothes for fast fashion brands and the type of condition they[the workers]are working in. The second photo is of people trying to save those who were hidden under rubble when a badly structured garment factory collapsed and killed thousands of people. The third photo is of people protesting for their safety and the safety of our environment. Unfortunately, no one knows how little these people are paid, under what conditions they are working in, and how dangerous it can be. Through all these photos it shows the pain, the pleads, and the continuous damage we are constantly bringing upon these people by supporting these Fast-Fashion brands. Overall, what I do hope the audience gains from this is how serious and complex this issue is. This horrible act is done all throughout the world and has not/will not stop if something isn’t done to put an end to it. Fast Fashion isn’t something that should be ignored but should be brought to everyone’s attention.
Work Cited
Singh, Ganit. “How Fast Fashion Has Completely Changed The Game.” Highlark, 4 Sept. 2018, highlark.com/fast-fashion/.
“Vector Cartoon Shopping People With.” Creative Market, 13 Dec. 2018, creativemarket.com/CodeAndDesign/3272984-Vector-cartoon-Shopping-People-with.
Modestmaterialist. “Fast Fashion Victims.” Modest Materialist, 11 May 2015, modestmaterialist.wordpress.com/2015/05/07/fast-fashion-victims/.
Rolak, Alina. “Will Fast Fashion Ever Be Ethical?” Medium, Medium, 14 May 2017, medium.com/@arolak98/will-fast-fashion-ever-be-ethical-7e897c8b20ae.
BabakJoy2014. Mary Scully Reports, 15 Apr. 2014, www.maryscullyreports.com/sweatshop-industry-waging-public-relations-campaign-respectability/.
